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.