Collaborative Innovation Processes Research Articles

Individual Innovation Competence: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda

Learning for innovation is a central element in European policymaking in developing higher education. Students often learn in project settings together with work organizations developing new solutions, products and services. These authentic creative, social and collaborative settings offer an attractive learning environment. The aim of this study was to determine the factors involved in individual innovation competence to be able to design, tutor and assess the pedagogical processes where authentic open-ended tasks are being solved transforming novel ideas into usable products or services. After defining the extraction criteria using a limited sample of articles, a bias-assessed systematic review was conducted of empirical research articles published in 2006–2015. Twenty-eight journal articles were ultimately included in the review. Despite the volume of academic literature in this field, comparatively few studies providing findings addressing the review objectives could be found. There was, however a reasonable weight of research evidence to support the result. The findings suggest that personal characteristics, such as flexibility, achievement orientation, motivation and engagement, self-esteem and self-management, future orientation, creative thinking skills, social skills, project management skills, and content knowledge and making skills can be needed in collaborative innovation process. These findings have implications for pedagogical innovation processes and for competency-based assessment.

Research on Collaborative Innovation of General Aviation Industry Based on Industrial Chain

The development of general aviation industry has been regarded as the strategic emerging industries of national priority. With many related industries and strong employment promotion, the industry can promote the upgrading of consumption and the development of regional economy. Mainly based on the industrial chain perspective, the article analyzes the development of general aviation industry development, and constructs the collaborative innovation model of aviation industry development chain, discussing the characteristics, influencing factors and evolution process of the general aviation industry collaborative innovation and putting forward the corresponding policy recommendations.

Managing Collaborative Innovation Networks – Practical Lessons from a Belgian Spatial Planning Initiative

Collaborative innovation networks are increasingly used as vehicles for fostering innovative policy solutions. However, scholars have noted that the extent to which collaborative networks can actually contribute to the development of innovative policy solutions depends on how they are managed. Empirical research on the management of collaborative policy innovation processes is, however, scarce. Therefore, we review in this article a case to add new insights to the causal link between collaboration, management, and innovation. Specifically, we examine the management strategies which helped a Flemish administrative network to develop a radical new Spatial Planning Policy Plan. This study shows that the best way to manage collaborative innovation networks is not to press directly for results, but take the time to invest in relationship-building and together agree on a planning and clear process steps. Such a management approach allows actors to get to know each other and from thereon expand, with more background and appreciation for the others’ goals, behaviors, and intentions, their group activities concerning the formulation of a radical and innovative policy plan.

Developing a Learning Method in an Open Innovation Project Through Action Research

Based on an action research process, this paper explores how a specific method supporting action learning was implemented in an open innovation project, and mitigated some of the inherent challenges of multi-actor collaboration. Using empirical findings from a collaborative project implementing a collaborative innovation process, in the field of vehicle and traffic safety, and drawing on theories on action learning, a learning method in open innovation, moving from a transactional way of interacting to a transformational way of acting, is outlined. The paper provides rich illustrations of how this learning method enabled a shift from a strategic to a transformational collaboration, as the participants moved from a space of territorial protection to a space for collaborative exploration. Such a learning focus explores what happens at the interface of inter-organizational collaboration. The paper makes a theoretical and a practical contribution by adding to the understanding of learning in networks and how ...

Facilitating practice-led co-innovation for the improvement in animal welfare

Using the egg-laying-hen sector as a case study, the European Union-funded ‘Hennovation’ thematic network has been testing mechanisms to enable practice-led innovation through the establishment of 19 innovation networks of farmers and within the laying-hen processing industry, supported by existing science and market-driven actors. These networks were facilitated to proactively search for, share and use new ideas to improve hen welfare, efficiency and sustainability. This article provides insights into the tools used, including a framework for the facilitation of practice-led collaborative innovation processes. This framework was developed through participatory action research to monitor network performance and self-reflection by facilitators. Practice-led innovation processes are network specific and evolve as the actors within the network come together to share common problems, experiment with possible solutions and learn. The participatory and iterative nature of this process leads to uncertainty in process and end results. This raises methodological challenges in the management of such processes and requires a flexible and adaptive management approach focusing on learning and reflection.

Multi-country collaborative innovation in the internationalisation process

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to operationalise the collaborative cross-border innovation process employed by multinational corporations in their effort to penetrate new markets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the case study of a leading European telecommunications group (OPERACOM). Methodologically it relies on 32 interviews, observation and secondary data analysis, and is theoretically founded on an extensive (mostly narrative and partly meta-synthetic) literature review.FindingsThe findings show that two new activities merit inclusion in the collaborative cross-border innovation process: strategic marketing anticipation and pre-opportunity studies. In this context, three strategic marketing levers are elucidated: subsidiaries’ knowledge integration, communication/coordination mechanisms, and collaboration-governance; interrelating on the way the activities and elements comprising the breadth and depth of the process’ continuum.Research limitations/implicationsThese stem from and are inherent to the very nature of the research (case study), which proscribes generalisations. Additionally, the research’s long-term span subjects the results to some inevitable potential temporal distortions.Practical implicationsThe research findings, owing to their detailed and activity-specific disposition, constitute a case prototype towards further and/or corresponding application to organisations of this and/or other industries; presenting executives with an existing and market-tested positive paradigm of the innovation aspect of the collaborative market-entry mechanism.Originality/valueCarrying significant scholarly and executive value, the research substantially and specifically enhances the understanding of innovation as an integral part of the internationalisation process, describing and prescribing explicit processes and actions throughout the horizontal and vertical organisational axes.

Evolution of the Chinese Industry-University-Research Collaborative Innovation System

The goal of this study was to reveal the mechanism of the Chinese industry-university-research collaborative innovation (IURCI) and interactions between the elements in the system and find issues that exist in the collaborative innovation process. Based on the theoretical perspective of innovation and complexity science, we summarized the elements of the IURCI as innovation capability, research and development (R&D) configuration, and knowledge transfer and established a theoretical model to describe the evolution of the IURCI system. We used simulation technology to determine the interactions among variables and the evolution trend of the system. The results showed that the R&D configuration can promote the evolution of innovation capability and knowledge transfer and that innovation capacity is the current dominant factor in the evolution of the Chinese IURCI system and is highly positively correlated with R&D configuration. The evolutionary trend of knowledge transfer was gentler, and its contribution to the evolution of the Chinese IURCI system was less than that of R&D configuration. When innovation, R&D configuration, and knowledge transfer are relatively balanced, the collaborative innovation system can achieve high speed and stable evolution.

Managing collaborative innovation in public bureaucracies

Public planners are increasingly recruited to manage collaborative innovation processes, but there is hardly any research on how they deal with the tensions they encounter in managing collaborative innovation in the institutional context of a public bureaucracy. Drawing on emerging theories of collaborative planning, network management and public innovation, the article develops a taxonomy of tasks related to managing collaborative innovation, identifies potential tensions between these tasks and the institutional logic of public bureaucracies and investigates how these tensions are experienced by frontline planners who remain involved in face-to-face interaction with citizens while managing collaborative innovation processes within urban regeneration projects in Copenhagen.

Realizing innovative public waterworks: Aligning administrative capacities in collaborative innovation processes

The importance of government support for innovation is widely acknowledged, but the way governments support innovation is changing. We discern three trends: local innovation policies are gaining importance; governments increasingly choose a bottom-up, tailor-made approach to support specific innovations; and there is more collaboration between public and private actors. We analyse these trends and investigate how modern governments employ their administrative capacities to support innovation. We conduct a comparative case study of four attempts to realize integrated energy and waterworks, combining water safety and sustainable energy generation. Despite broad support, attempts to realize such innovative, multifunctional works in The Netherlands have had varying degrees of success. We examine the governmental support for these attempts and assess how governments' actions affect the innovation process. We conclude that all governmental administrative capacities have to be employed, and that public alignment is crucial for a synchronized endeavour. We elucidate the growing importance and special role of local authorities in innovation and demonstrate how modern governments spur innovation with tailor-made support in close collaboration with the private sector. We further conclude that ‘encouraging interaction’ is an insufficient public contribution to innovation and that expectations must be carefully managed to avoid role confusion in public–private innovation.

Estudio sobre la colaboración inter-institucional en procesos de innovación pública

El presente artículo profundiza en el rol de la colaboración inter-institucional en procesos de innovación pública, a través del estudio de dos casos: el primero relacionado con la gestión de pacientes con pie diabético en una sub-red de salud, y el segundo en torno a la administración de tres piscinas municipales temperadas. Como conclusiones del trabajo se identifican cinco puntos claves para gestionar procesos colaborativos de innovación, los cuales son (i) identificar si se requiere innovar a través de un trabajo colaborativo, (ii) disponer de equipos de trabajo que aborden los desafíos a resolver, (iii) garantizar el cumplimiento de roles mínimos necesarios para gestionar la innovación colaborativa, (iv) promover espacios de colaboración donde se privilegie la gestión de conocimiento tácito por sobre el explícito, y (v) buscar evidencia de los resultados obtenidos a partir de las soluciones implementadas.

Safecast: successful citizen-science for radiation measurement and communication after Fukushima

The Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, which began on 11 March 2011, provided a crucial opportunity to evaluate the state of preparation on the part the powerplant operator (TEPCO), relevant Japanese government agencies, and international oversight bodies, to gather necessary information on radiation risks quickly and to share it with those tasked with emergency response as well as with the general public. The inadequacy of this preparation and the chaotic nature of inter-agency and inter-governmental communication has been well noted in several official reports on the disaster. In response, Safecast, an international, volunteer-based organization devoted to monitoring and openly sharing information on environmental radiation and other pollutants, was initiated on 12 March 2011, one day following the start of the accident. Since then the group has implemented participatory, open-source, citizen-science-centered radiation mapping solutions developed through a process of collaborative open innovation. The information Safecast provided has proven useful to experts, to policy makers, and to the public. This paper briefly describes the methodology and toolsets Safecast has developed and deployed, as well as organizational and social aspects, and summarizes key results obtained to date. In addition, it discusses appropriate criteria for evaluating the success of citizen-science efforts like Safecast, and places it in context with other non-governmental radiation monitoring efforts.

The Role of Unabsorbed Slack in Internal and Collaborative Innovation Processes — A Resource-Based Framework

Extant research has highlighted the critical role of unabsorbed slack resources in internal innovation processes. In recent years, many firms have continued to open up their innovation processes to actively collaborate with external partners. In light of a limited understanding of the determinants of collaborative innovation, we provide new theoretical arguments about the relationship of unabsorbed slack resources with internal and collaborative innovation processes. Specifically, we draw on resource-based and competence-based logic and develop a conceptual framework for intraorganizational and interorganizational innovation with propositions for the impact of unabsorbed slack resources on internal and external knowledge acquisition and commercialization processes. The arguments underscore the critical role of excess resources in collaborative innovation, and they highlight the need for a fine-grained examination of the impact of unabsorbed slack resources in innovation processes. The arguments are particularly important in light of a renewed interest in essential enablers and barriers to collaborative innovation processes.

Deriving an ontology for knowledge management in collaborative innovation networks

Innovation and knowledge creation are tightly related concepts. Collaborative innovation networks (COINs) are very productive ecosystems for knowledge generation. Acknowledging their relevance for innovation, we propose a novel ontology for knowledge management (KM) in COINs, which builds on COINs related literature and is partially derived from topic-related and enterprise ontologies. The utility of the ontology is illustrated through an application case in a software house. The ontology can be applied in different cases involving KM in COINs, such as support the development of IT-based KM services for knowledge co-creation in COINs or, be used as an auditing tool in collaborative innovation processes.

Bridging conflicting innovation spheres of tourism innovation: the role of diplomacy

In service sectors such as tourism production and consumption are tied to places. In these places different actors base their production on a set of shared resources. Such localized systems can be characterized by different service practices, disagreements among actors, lack of trust, and competition which may inhibit networked and open innovation. Tourist destinations are examples of such localized systems. In this paper we present two extreme cases of tourist destinations in which collaborative innovation processes were established in spite of fierce disagreements between actors. We argue that in tourist destinations actors belong to conflicting innovation spheres but can be brought together in innovation processes when a diplomat enable compromises and when innovation spheres change from personalized to more generalized forms of activity during interaction. The findings are relevant not only for tourism but also for other sectors characterized by localized systems.JEL Codes: L83, L14, L19, O30, Z00

The function of intermediaries in collaborative innovation processes: retrofitting a Danish small island ferry with green technology

Intermediaries are actors who perform several functions during innovation processes such as brokering and networking. In this paper, the aim is to analyse how intermediaries support collaborative innovation processes taking place in green maritime technology projects. In particular, retrofit projects related to cleaner technologies and small vessels are an understudied subject. The case study of a Danish small island ferry retrofit shows that intermediaries are important to stage the collaboration between actors. They can provide functions to the incipient network as foresight, brokering, increasing network connectivity and scanning of information. However, intermediaries can also have a proactive role in shaping the emerging innovation pathways. In this case study, intermediaries negotiate each partner's role and define the goals of the project. The results contribute to the broader eco-innovation literature by analysing intermediation in innovation in a process perspective.

The function of intermediaries in collaborative innovation processes: retrofitting a Danish small island ferry with green technology

The function of intermediaries in collaborative innovation processes: retrofitting a Danish small island ferry with green technology

A Cloud Platform for the Integration and Optimizing Allocation of High Quality Teaching Resources based on the University-led Collaborative Innovation

Collaborative innovation is an important strategy choice of China nowadays, and also of the national universities. Using SOA architecture and cloud computing, we build an integration and optimizing allocation cloud platform of high quality teaching resources for universities-led collaborative innovation to meet the resource requirements of universities based on the analysis of basic concept, types, core process, and evolution characteristics of university-led collaborative innovation following the inherent laws of university-led collaborative innovation, and then analyze the construction concept, logical architecture and main functions of the platform,. Finally, we provide a series of suggestions to the relevant universities and government departments to effectively promote the smooth implementation of the university-led collaborative innovation activities and the integration and optimizing allocation cloud platform of high quality teaching resources for university-led collaborative innovation.

Selection Method of Customer Partners in Customer Collaborative Product Innovation

AbstractPartner selection is an important aspect of the customer collaborative product innovation process and aims to select innovative customer partners from huge numbers of customers, fast and accurately. The purpose of this article is to present a quantitative partner selection method based on the complex network theory. In this method, the complex network model of the Online Community Customer Network (OCCN) is constructed, and network centrality is used as the initial index of customer partner selection. Then, network efficiency and delta centrality are used to evaluate the effect of the index. An example is presented to reflect the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method. Results validate the small-world and scale-free properties of the OCCN and show that betweenness centrality is the most appropriate index for partner selection in the OCCN.

Implementation of an error-reporting module within a biorepository IT application to enhance operations.

The Collaborative (formerly the Cooperative) Human Tissue Network (CHTN) is a federally funded service oriented grant that provides high-quality biospecimens and services to the research community. The CHTN consists of six institutions located throughout the United States to assist investigators in obtaining research specimens required for basic research. The CHTN divisions have similar operating goals: however, each division is responsible for maintaining operations at their local institutions. This requires the divisions to identify ways to maintain and sustain operations in a challenging federally funded environment, especially when the number of investigators requesting services drives the operation. Sustainability plans and goals are often times patched together out of necessity rather than taking a thoughtful approach by clearly defining and aligning activities with business strategy and priorities. The CHTN Western Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (CHTN-WD) has responded to this challenge of biospecimen resource sustainability in the face of diminished funding by continually identifying ways to innovate our processes through IT enhancements and requiring that the innovation produce measurable and relevant criteria for credibly reporting our operations progress and performance issues. With these overarching goals in mind, CHTN-WD underwent a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) series to identify operational inefficiencies that could be addressed with redesigning workflow and innovating the processes using IT solutions. The result of this internal collaborative innovation process was the implementation of an error-reporting module (ERM) hosted within our biorepository donor IT application, which allowed staff to report errors immediately; determine the operational area responsible; assess the severity of the error; determine course of action; determine if standard operating procedure (SOPs) revisions were required; and through automated e-mails, alert the area personnel responsible. The module provides a data-reporting feature by date range and area of operation for management and analysis.

An Integration and Optimizing Allocation Platform of High Quality Teaching Resources for University-led Collaborative Innovation

Using the theory and method of collaborative innovation, we build an integration and optimizing allocation platform of high quality teaching resources for universities-led collaborative innovation based on the analysis of basic content and process of university-led collaborative innovation, and study the structure and functions of the platform in detail. Finally we provide a series of effective countermeasures to effectively promote collaborative innovation activities in universities.