Tools for Open Innovation

EP3: Tools for Open Innovation


Transcript:


As promised, we will put theory into practice. Today we
will be talking about the paper “The role of digital
technologies in open innovation processes: an exploratory
multiple case study analysis” by Andrea Urbinati, Davide
Chiaroni, Vittorio Chiesa and Federico Frattini from 2018. The
overall question: What does a company need to do, in order to
implement digital technologies in an Open Innovation
process?


The Tools


Big Data


Huge amount of data, that can’t be handled with in a
“normal” way. The correct amount of bytes depends on the size of
the company. In order to handle big data, one needs analytical
skills to extract value from this massive amount of data.


Internet of Things (IoT)


It’s the technology to connect “things” via internet. Smart
homes and wearables are real life examples, because they exchange
data via the internet from one object to another.


Information and Knowledge Management systems
(IKM)


Creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and
information of an organization. (e.g. eLearning platforms like
"Moodle")


Cloud Computing


The Cloud! To put it as simple as possible: it’s an
IT-Infrastructure made available via internet. Normally it
includes data capacities, computing power or an application
software (e.g. adobe programms, that also save your projects in
their cloud).


Product-Lifecycle-Management – Systems


Systems that withhold all the information and data
regarding the life cycle of a product - from the concept to the
trash bin/ recycling bin. With these systems one can also control
the process of development and enable the redistribution of
workflows. Also crossfunctional teams can use these systems: One
might be good in CAD programs to do the mock up, the other one is
an engineer and realises the product and then there are
administrators and such that do the distribution. All these steps
can be included in one PLM - System.


System of Rapid Prototyping (SoRP)


SoRP (e.g. 3D printing technology), mainly revolves around
prototype generation, test design, refining and commercializing.
Its most beneficial in the product development phase, you can
e.g. simultaneously develop several versions of the same product
and speed up the product offering.


Combining the Tools


In order to understand the significance of the different
tools, you must understand, that combined and used
simultaneously, they give the organization additional advantages
in the Open Innovation process. For example, a proper Cloud
infrastructure must be installed in order to deal with Big Data.
That means you need good working computers and lots of storage to
even benefit from other digital technologies.


Two other tools working well together when it comes to
product development is the System of Rapid Prototyping and
Product lifecycle systems, because SoRP enables saving time on
prototyping and PLM provides control over the product lifecycle
of said product.


How to use them?


On the organizational level it helps in reorganizing the
Research and Development units in data capacities and time
management for example. They need to restructure their way of
financing digital investment, implement routine ways for
innovation activities and standardize technologies’
features.


But let’s move on to the process of Open Innovation: There
are three phases, that a company has go through to enable Open
Innovation. I will include a little example just to make it more
approachable: The generating of an idea, let’s say a nurse droid,
the development of the droid and the last phase would be the
commercialization of it, so bringing it to the people and the
hospitals.


The mentioned tools now need to be used tailored to the
phase you find yourself in.


Examples


More and more private hospitals invest in digital
technology to monitor the patient’s diagnostic-therapeutic
pathway via electronic medical records. A hospital put together a
group of 20 to 25 people including doctors and nurses. This so
called task force was supposed to work with new digital tools to
accelerate the elaboration of information on their patients
instead of using the traditional clinical records on paper. In
detail, they used Big Data and Cloud computing, where they saved
and analysed the information of their clients. In the end they
reduced the time on elaborating clinical records from three to
four weeks to four days from the patients’ discharge. On the OI
process, let’s say “timeline”, the technologies where used within
the commercialisation phase, so they where already using it on
customers, their patients.


The second example is of a company that tries to establish
a unit called “Digital Direction – unit” that responds directly
to the CEO. Before this unit they used site management, apps,
social media etc., which helped different units to communicate.
First they planned to make a unit, that reorganized and put
together all these different platforms linked to digital
technologies. In this idea generating phase they mainly used
Information and Knowledge Management systems. By initiating this
unit the company was following two main goals: They wanted to
digitalize the marketing and commercialization in order to get to
their final customers and they wanted to put the digitalization
of sales processes in the hands of sales. The next step, to
achieve these goals, was to overcome the technological and
digital gap. We now arrived at the development phase, where they
integrated graduate programs for internal offices and employees
and of course digital training courses. Because the
implementation of digital technologies and the initiatives
require experts in the field, they need to be found as
well.


The technological transformation of the past years actually
forces the companies to adapt their research and development
units. They now have to adapt their innovation activities. In
particular they do so by standardizing technologies’ features, to
rethink their planned budget for digital investments and, as we
already reflected on, developing new and formalized procedures
for innovation activities.


Summary


To summarize the findings of Andrea Urbinati et al. there
are certain steps a company needs to go through to enable Open
Innovation and to really use it to their advantage. For
optimization of your digital processes, it is advisable to form a
unit that will be combining the different tools tailored to the
organizations needs, and where it stands in the OI Process
(whether it is on the stage of idea creating, developing or
commercializing). After these things are sorted out, the
optimized tools can be implemented in the different departments,
which need to work with these tools again. To involve the
employees in this transformation process will require workshops
and some time. But as the case studies showed, it will be worth
it, because in the end it will safe costs and time and employees
will be technological wise be picked up
appropriately. 


Source:


Urbinati, A., Chiaroni, D., Chiesa, V., &
Frattini, F. (2020). The role of digital technologies in open
innovation processes: An exploratory multiple case study
analysis. R&D Management, 50(1), 136–160.