Organising Innovation

Abstract

Innovation offers many opportunities for corporations. That is beyond dispute. The only question is how to make the most of them. In this lecture, I show what the process of innovation entails; I give examples of successful and failed innovations and I discuss the current issues and trends in this field. The challenges facing companies are how to handle uncertainty; how to collaborate with external parties and how to reduce the cost and time involved. My research focuses on the management of the innovation process and the organisation of system innovation. Research findings show how companies can improve the quality of ideas; how they can make more effective use of ideas from external parties; and whether it is best to develop complementary products themselves or contract this work out to others. I also discuss the specific innovation-related issues of the Netherlands and how these can be handled best.

Keywords: innovation management, technology management, organizing for innovation, idea generation, creativity, crowdsourcing, collaboration for innovation, systemic innovation, organizational forms

JEL Classification: M13, O32, M, O32, L26