INNOVATIONS PROCESSEN
Vad som menas med Innovationsprocessen beror på från vilket perpektiv man betraktar det:
- från Individens perspektiv, personen som deltar i processen
- från Teamets perspektiv, teamet som arbetar med att åstadkomma innovativa
produkter och tjänster
- från Organisationens perspektiv, organisationen som vill utveckla och
leverera nya produkter och tjänster
- från Marknadens perspektiv, marknaden i vilken de nya produkterna kommer att
konkurrera
- från Samhällets perspektiv, samhället i vilken innovationer kan bli upptagen och
även kan bli 'business as usual' och 'common standard'
Individens perspektiv
There is an important difference between a discovery, an invention and innovation:
A Discovery is recognizing something that already exists for the first time, that nobody has found before. For instance how Kepler describes the Heliocentric System.
An Invention is creating something totally new with one’s own ideas and development. For instance how Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
Innovation is the transformation of creative ideas to useful applications by combining resources in new or unusual ways to provide value through improved products or services.
Whereas a discovery or an invention can be the result of one single person's effort,*)
Innovations for sure are the product of people working together.
*) Even here one may doubt that this is the case. More often discoveries take place simultaneously on different places in the world. The concept of multiple discovery is the hypothesis that most scientific discoveries and inventions are made independently and more or less simultaneously by multiple scientists and inventors. The concept of multiple discovery opposes a traditional view — the "heroic theory" of invention and discovery. See for instance Malcolm Gladwell's Big Think (2011)
The FINCODA project, sponsored by the EU and realised in co-operation between a number of European Universities, had the mission to identify innovation talent at an early stage. The project started with the development of a competence model, shown to the right.
LDpe has successfully connected the model to the (simulation model of the) LD-Toolbox an we can help the individual to develop his/her innovation competences.
The Fincoda model shows clearly that innovation is not only a solitair activity.
One needs Teamwork and Networking, i.e. social interaction in order to become successful. The individual components of this competence model are Creativity and Critical Thinking.
But this, however, does not imply that everyone in the innovation process necessarily must be highly creative and/or think very critical.
Teamets perspektiv
Om vi ser på möjligheterna av innovation med ett team är det faktiskt inte nödvändigt att alla i teamet är ett ess i kreativitet och kritiskt tänkande. Teamet skulle inte alls funktionera, som vi har sett i Belbin’s teorier. Dessutom kommer själva teamarbetet att stimulera var och en av deltagarna at bli mera kreativ.
Processen av teamarbetet, kunskaps-skapandet och innovation har beskrivits av Nonaka och Takeuchi i sin SECI modell (The Knowledge Creating Company, 1995).
Tacit*] Kunskap, den implicita, outtalade kunskapen som vi håller på inom oss och som är uppbyggd genom åren, är svårt att explicitera, men den kan stimulera kreativiteten hos oss själva och hos andra, och bidra i Innovationsprocessen:
*] Tacit Knowhow, kallas på svenska ’Tyst kunskap’, vilket jag egentligen tycker är en fel översättning. Jag håller mig själv därför hellre till ordet ’Tacit’.
Så här beskrivs processen i en studie på Umeå Universitet:
1. Från tyst kunskap till tyst kunskap - socialisering
Denna kunskap skapas när individer interagerar med varandra och genom socialisation. Denna kunskap behöver inte vara i explicit form utan kunskaps-överföringen sker tyst. Detta kan vara till exempel vid mentorskap eller vid en introduktion för nya medarbetare där de tar till sig kunskap genom att gå bredvid och se på hur andra arbetar, ny tyst kunskap bildas ge-nom imitation, observation och praktiserande (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995). Ett annat exempel när tyst kunskap bildas inom en organisation är när medarbetare snabbt lär sig outtalade normer och värderingar inom organisationer som avspeglas i organisationskulturen och ”sitter i väggarna” (Lindmark & Önnevik 2006).
2. Från tyst kunskap till explicit kunskap – externalisering
Denna kunskap skapas när olika individers explicita kunskap uttrycks och förmedlas till andra.
Dessa kunskaper kombineras och omvandlas då till nya former av kunskaper. Exempel på när denna kunskap skapas är vid arbetsplanering eller vid skapandet av kompetensdatabaser inom organisationen.
3. Från explicit kunskap till explicit kunskap - kombinering
I detta läge kan den tysta kunskapen tydliggöras och sker när exempelvis en erfaren medarbetare skriver manualer för hur vissa arbetsprocesser ser ut eller vid möten med specifika teman där syftet är att utbyta erfarenheter genom att lösa en uppgift tillsammans, i workshops och med att nätverka.
4. Från explicit kunskap till tyst kunskap- internalisering
Denna form av kunskap är den kunskap som uppstår vid den klassiska undervisningen eller genom användande av till exempel ny teknik där den tysta kunskapen ökar ju mer individen praktiserar sina nya kunskaper och får reflektera och tolka det som lärts ut på sitt eget sätt (Nonaka 1994).
I detta läge är det viktigt att kommunikationen, av den kunskap som lärs ut, är tydlig och konkret och inte uppbyggd genom metaforer och symboliskt språk då olika individer tolkar och uppfattar samma sak på olika sätt beroende på tidigare erfarenheter och bakgrund (Tulgan & Martin 2006).
Josefin Kernell
Umeå, juni 2012
Efter Internalisering, kommer processen att fortsätta på en ny nivå ('level'), därför kallas det för Spiralen av kunskapsskapande.
Innovation kan uppstå genom social interaktion, utväxling av explicit information, action learning, internalisering och 'leverage'.
Organisationens perspektiv
Olika typer av Innovation
Innan vi går vidare in på temat Innovation från Organisationens perspektiv vill vi påminna om att det finns olika typer av innovation, och att den ena typen är svårare att realisera än den andra.
I Bart Bossink's bok anger han de föjlande typerna:
Produkt Innovation
Förbättring och förnyelse av bestående produkter
Process Innovation
Förbättring av tillverkningsprocesser
Positionerings Innovation
Förbättring och förnyelse av organisationen's positionering i marknad och samhälle
Paradigma Innovation
Fórbättring av hur organisationen organiserar och 'framar' sin rätt att finnas till
Development steps and Innovation Capabilities
Generally, the development steps in innovation processes are:
- Ideation
- Project Selection
- Product Development
- Commercialization
To organize for innovation in an effective way, organisations, will need to build up a number of capabilities.
The process of innovation, called Innovation Management, differs from running 'Business as Usual'.
Innovation Management
A large number of innovation experts, all around the world, work together, in ISO, the International Standard Organisation, backed up by a large number of local institutions, creating a common language for innovation management. Just to help you in setting up your innovation activities.
In February 2020 the newest standard ISO 56000, Innovation management – Fundamentals and vocabulary was issued (click on the picture for reading the press release).
Managing the portfolio of products and services
The new products and services that the organisation develops will be includes in the organisation's product portfolio. The way in which organisation manage their product portfolio differs, but the life-time of the items in the portfolio has to be analysed regularly. The product portfolio matrix is a chart that was created in 1970 by Bruce D. Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group (BSC) to help corporations to analyse their product lines. This helps the company allocate resources.
The BSC matrix is used as an analytical tool in brand marketing, product management, strategic management, and portfolio analysis.
Business Model Generation
Before the introduction new products and services, the organisation needs to think through all facets of the business model.
The Handbook on Business Model Generation (2010), written by
Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
has become a very popular instrument and checklist for understanding, designing, reworking, and implementing business models for an organisation's products and services.
Marknadens perspektiv
Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies, popularized the theory in his book Diffusion of Innovations; the book was first published in 1962, and is now in its fifth edition (2003). Rogers argues that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. The origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are varied and span multiple disciplines.
Rogers proposes that four main elements influence the spread of a new idea: the innovation itself, communication channels, time, and a social system. The innovation must be widely adopted in order to self-sustain. Within the rate of adoption, there is a point at which an innovation reaches critical mass (the tipping point, chasm).
The categories of adopters are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Diffusion manifests itself in different ways and is highly subject to the type of adopters and innovation-decision process.
Samhällets perpektiv
Technological innovations have occurred throughout history and rapidly increased over the modern age. New technologies are developed and co-exist with the old before supplanting them.
Transport offers several examples; from sailing to steam ships to automobiles replacing horse-based transportation. Technological transitions (TT) describe how these technological innovations occur and are incorporated into society. Alongside the technological developments TT considers wider societal changes such as “user practices, regulation, industrial networks (supply, production, distribution), infrastructure, and symbolic meaning or culture”. (Wikipedia)
Multi-level perspective (MLP)
One of the theories on acceptance and breakthrough of technology in society is the multi-level Perspective. (MLP), an analytical methodology that attempts to deal with the complexity and resistance to change.
The MLP posits three analytical and heuristic levels on which processes interact and align to result in socio-technical system transformations; landscape (macro-level), regimes (meso-level) and niches (micro-level).
The niche level is defined as the “locus for radical innovations” where dedicated actors nurture the development of technological novelties. It starts as a small application domain in which new technological innovations are tested an improved by innovative organisations and users. The activities in the niche are initially strongly focused on perfection of the technology. When the development in the niche becomes more focused on the development of user experience, the niche may evaluate till market-niche.
The sociotechnical regime is defined by standard practices, habits and traditions of larger groups of people (the mass) that give a strong base of existence to a number of products and services. Once these products and services belonged to a niche, but after their breakthrough they have become ‘common practice’. Also rules and legislation have grown accustomed to their existence, and generally everyone feels comfortable with this situation.
The sociotechnical landscape includes the general technological and social constant values in society. It are the standardised technological developments and infrastructures for functioning industries, the way in which cities have been shaped, the presence of energy and logistics. Sociotechnical landscapes are deeply embedded in societies and dominant ways of living, belief and religion, healthcare, economical and political developments.
Breakthrough of new technologies
A new technology starts its development at the niche level. Many of the these development are vulnerable and strongly dependent of R&D investments and possibly also governmental subsidies.
Financially they are hardly interesting, unless it comes to a breakthrough. But that is not so easy, because, at the sociotechnical level they meet a lot of resistance. Most niche level developments never come as far as that level.