COLLABORATIVE  INNOVATION

"Integrating Knowledge Generated in a Distributed Product Development Process"
Research has indicated that small and medium sized firms (SMEs) play an important role for
innovation and the growth of the economy. However, in order to compete on a global market,
most SMEs are bound to work in alliances to gather enough knowledge and resources for
product and technology development, or to be able be active on a larger market. To maximize
the effects of knowledge developed the issue of sharing and integrating knowledge is
important. The present study uses a case study approach in three medium sized manufacturing
firms.
By Jonas Rundquist, University of Halmstad, 2007.

"BrainSpace: A Virtual Environment for Collaboration & Innovation"
Innovation and problem solving processes take place more and more beyond the boundaries
of the enterprise. Therefore, new methods and tools are necessary to foster multiple
stakeholder relationships and manage distributed knowledge creation. Sustainable solutions
require procedures that combine the effectiveness of a team with the creative power and the
expertise of a community. BrainSpace fills this gap, and allows innovation to proceed in
a complex environment by striking a balance between order and creative chaos.
By Buesser & Ninck, International Journal for Technology Management, Vol.28, 2004

"Radical Innovation Without Collocation"
This excellent paper describes how a unique type of virtual team, deploying
a computer-mediated collaborative technology, developed a radically new product. Using the
case of Boeing-Rocketdyne, the authors describe the behavior of a virtual cross-value chain
team. The data collected also identifies managerial practices and leads to recommendations
for managers responsible for such teams.
By Malhotra, Majchrzak & Lott, MIS Quarterly, Vol.25, 2001.

"The New Practice of Global Product Development"
Many manufacturers have established product development activities in different countries
around the world. Yet, their senior managers often struggle to tie those decentralized
organizations into a cohesive, unified operation that can efficiently drive growth and
innovation. New empirical frameworks may help unlock practices with which managers can
deploy well-coordinated global product development strategies.
By Eppinger & Chitkara, MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer, 2008.

"Innovation through Global Collaboration"
Many firms mistakenly apply an "outsourcing" mindset to collaboration efforts which, in turn,
leads to critical errors. Successful firms have, by contrast, developed an explicit strategy for
collaboration and made organizational changes to aid performance in these efforts.
Ultimately, these actions allow them to identify and exploit new business opportunities.
By MacCormack, Forbath, Brooks, Kalaher, Harvard Business School, August, 2007

"Towards Sixth Generation R&D Management"
A sixth generation of R&D has been elaborated, one generation re-focusing the research part
connecting to loosely tied multi-technology research networks. The bases for this new set of
approaches are a broader multi-technology base for high-tech products and a more distributed
technology-sourcing structure. The Bluetooth case study, originating within Ericsson, has been
used to exemplify the roots and ideas of the sixth generation of R&D. The Bluetooth case
represents a joint cross-industrial, open intellectual property-based, effort in developing and
bringing a new technology to the market by utilizing the resources from more than
one thousand companies.
By D. Nobelius, Volvo Cars Corporation, Sweden, October, 2003