Regional innovation strategies and sustainability in selected EU countries

This study focuses on regional innovation strategy (RIS) and sustainability aspects in selected regions of European Union (EU) countries. It is known that RIS helps a region to innovate locally and to compete globally and it is considered as one of the main policy tools of the EU for innovation support at a regional level. This study is conducted to explore the existence and adoption of RIS in different regions of selected EU countries, and to highlight and compare regional RIS characteristics. The study is also aimed at identifying the factors that characterise the formulation and implementation of RIS as well as the problems associated thereof. In this study, six regions of EU countries are considered: Päijät-Häme Region (Finland); London Region (United Kingdom); Mid-West Region (Ireland); Veneto Region (Italy); Eastern Region (Poland); and West Region (Romania). Data and information are collected by sending questionnaires to the respective regional authorities of these selected regions. Based on the gathered information and analysis, RIS or equivalent strategy document serves as a blueprint for forwarding innovative programmes towards regional sustainability. The objectives of RIS in these regions are found to be dependent on the priority sectors and state of the region’s development. The current environmental sustainability aspects are focused on eco-design, eco-products, and eco-innovation, although each region also has its own specific aspects supported by RIS. Likewise, regional policies typically follow the RIS yet translated in various sectoral focus or priority areas. The main enhancing factors supporting RIS among selected regions have some similarities and variations; among others, some regions are strongly supported by EU while others have support from own regional agencies, organisations and professional networks. RIS implementation is not without challenges and despite the differences in challenges, almost all of reviewed regions consider financial resource as a common problem. Generally, it is learned from this study that RIS and regional sustainability are reinforcing each other mutually. In this study, the strong focus is given towards environmental sustainability in the regions although regional sustainability also includes economic and social aspects. A well-focused and prioritised RIS is beneficial for regional sustainable development.

Open innovation model for a large company in the ICT industry: Case Ericsson LMF

Open innovation paradigm states that the boundaries of the firm have become permeable, allowing knowledge to flow inwards and outwards to accelerate internal innovations and take unused knowledge to the external environment; respectively. The successful implementation of open innovation practices in firms like Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Xerox, among others; suggest that it is a sustainable trend which could provide basis for achieving competitive advantage. However, implementing open innovation could be a complex process which involves several domains of management; and whose term, classification, and practices have not totally been agreed upon. Thus, with many possible ways to address open innovation, the following research question was formulated: How could Ericsson LMF assess which open innovation mode to select depending on the attributes of the project at hand? The research followed the constructive research approach which has the following steps: find a practical relevant problem, obtain general understanding of the topic, innovate the solution, demonstrate the solution works, show theoretical contributions, and examine the scope of applicability of the solution. The research involved three phases of data collection and analysis: Extensive literature review of open innovation, strategy, business model, innovation, and knowledge management; direct observation of the environment of the case company through participative observation; and semi-structured interviews based of six cases involving multiple and heterogeneous open innovation initiatives. Results from the cases suggest that the selection of modes depend on multiple reasons, with a stronger influence of factors related to strategy, business models, and resources gaps. Based on these and others factors found in the literature review and observations; it was possible to construct a model that supports approaching open innovation. The model integrates perspectives from multiple domains of the literature review, observations inside the case company, and factors from the six open innovation cases. It provides steps, guidelines, and tools to approach open innovation and assess the selection of modes. Measuring the impact of open innovation could take years; thus, implementing and testing entirely the model was not possible due time limitation. Nevertheless, it was possible to validate the core elements of the model with empirical data gathered from the cases. In addition to constructing the model, this research contributed to the literature by increasing the understanding of open innovation, providing suggestions to the case company, and proposing future steps.

A Roadmap for Strengthening International Collaboration in Research and Innovation under Horizon 2020. EU Center Singapore Background Brief No. 9, May 2013

This  background  brief  looks  into  the  new  research  and  innovation  strategy  introduced  by  the  European  Union  embodied in the Horizon 2020 funding programme. It focuses  on the  prospect  for  international  collaboration  in  Horizon  2020, and presents a roadmap for both European institutions  and  those  from  key  third  countries  to  get  ready  for  the  opportunities provided by this funding instrument to embark  on interesting research and innovation. The brief begins by  outlining the efforts by the EU to address issues of economic  competitiveness with a new growth strategy Europe 2020 in  response to the enormous challenges faced by Europe in the  midst of the debt  crisis. It looks at the introduction of the  Innovation Union  as  a  Europe 2020  initiative,  and  explains  how the  new  financial  instrument,  Horizon  2020,  may  be  used to support the primary goals   of more jobs, improved  lives,  better  society  and  the  global  competitiveness  of  Europe.  The  brief  also  outlines  the  major  differences  of  Horizon 2020 from the previous framework programmes, and  recommends close collaboration between the European and  the key third countries. The brief also proposes general and  priority‐specific  strategies  for  national  research  councils,  universities  and  research  institution  to  get  ready  to  participate in the Horizon 2020 programme.  

8 steps for managing green innovation in the automotive industry

The car is dead, long live the car! We are about to celebrate 100 years of Ford model T, the most iconic symbol of the popularisation of cars as the means of personal mobility. The automotive industry is going through an incredible journey of redefining its purpose and the traditional characteristics of its products. More than ever, car manufacturers will need to develop and effectively implement a meaningful green innovation strategy if they want to survive in the new automotive era.

Human resource management, innovation and performance:looking across levels

The importance of innovation can hardly be exaggerated, given that landmark change has defined human progress in our technological age. The business pages of popular journals are replete with a dazzling array of inventions that have overturned existing ways of working and fundamentally changed human experience — from agricultural drones that offer farmers new ways to increase crop yield to genome editing that provides powerful insights into genetically baffling brain disorders. Innovation has become a topical theme within organisations, too, with no shortage of advice and suggestions often targeted at business leaders about how to craft an innovation strategy or increase the number and quality of ideas with a view to enriching organisational life. The quote at the start of this chapter bears testament to the sheer effort of moving away from familiar, habitual practices in the direction of less-certain, risky future terrain. Setting aside what has gone before to move in new directions requires determination, resilience and courage at a personal level. Often overlooked, though, are the multi-level dynamics that this entails.

Planning, Cooperation and Competition: A case study in industry and construction in a Portuguese Region

In the present paper we analyzed the behavior of firms in the construction and manufacturing sectors, located in the region of Vale do Sousa, in the north of Portugal. From the literature, even existing some disagreements, it is possible to conclude that planning is crucial for firms survival and growth. Cooperation is another aspect that the literature presents as an important factor for firms sustainability. It also plays a major role in competition, since firms are adopting coopetition strategies. By studying a sample of 251 firms, it was possible to realize, that the majority started their business without a formal planning, and they keep going without using it. In cooperation aspects, there is a lack of cooperation. It was possible to verify, that existing cooperation has some evidence but at a vertical level. These vertical relations were also identified in stakeholder’s involvement.

Inovação e estratégia industrial: estudo de caso: aplicação dos 5S

As empresas necessitam de ver os seus desempenhos e resultados constantemente melhorados ao nível da qualidade e eficiência. Quando deparamos com a problemática industrial, parece não haver dúvidas de que a metodologia aplicada, a inovação e o capital de investimento a médio e a longo prazo, são decisivos para o crescimento de uma empresa. Das várias estratégias e metodologias que são aplicadas nas empresas, a filosofia Lean surge como uma poderosa metodologia de melhoria de processos. O objetivo deste trabalho assenta na seleção e aplicação de uma das ferramentas da metodologia Lean numa unidade industrial. Foi selecionada a ferramenta 5S para implementação numa empresa de transformação e comercialização de vidro plano. Com a implementação da ferramenta 5S atuou-se sobre os desperdícios, identificando e implementando diversas melhorias no processo. Face às evidentes melhorias observadas, pretende-se alargar o processo a todas as áreas da empresa com vista à melhoria contínua.

Chesney's: Growing through product expansion

Chesney’s: Growing Through Product Expansion The purpose of this work project is to have a better understanding about how to proceed when a company is challenged by new options to grow and thrive. It aims to decode the next direction of Chesney’s Ltd, a United Kingdom leading company in luxurious replicas of antique fireplaces, wood burning stoves and other architectural pieces. The work project relies on the concepts of strategy, innovation and design thinking in order to encourage dynamic activities within the company. Chesney’s continuously tries to improve and innovate and this work project will assess whether the possible options have strategic fit with the purpose of the company and consequently, create an introduction plan for the opportunity that shows higher probabilities of becoming successful.

Colaboração em inovação: parceiros ou concorrentes?

Dissertação de mestrado em Economia Industrial e da Empresa

External technology sources: Embodied or disembodied technology acquisition

This paper analyzes the choice between different innovationactivities of a firm. In particular, we study the technologyacquisition decision of the firm, i.e. its technology BUYdecision as part of the firm's innovation strategy. We take a closer look at the different types of external technologyacquisition where we distinguish two broad types of technologybuy decisions. On the one hand, the firm can acquire new technology which is embodied in an asset that is acquired suchas new personnel or (parts of) other firms or equipment. On the other hand, the firm can obtain new technology disembodiedthrough a licensing agreement or by outsourcing the technologydevelopment from an R&D contractor or consulting agency. Through a series of Probit regressions, we discuss variables that might affect external technology acquisition choices of the firm andpay special attention to the firm's abilities to scan the market for technology and to absorb the technology acquired. Furthermore, we analyze the effect of different appropriationregimes on the decision of the firm to source technology.

In Search of Corporate Renewal: How to Benefit from Corporate Venturing?

Despite the rapid change in today's business environment there are relatively few studies about corporate renewal. This study aims for its part at filling that research gap by studying the concepts of strategy, corporate renewal, innovation and corporate venturing. Its purpose is to enhance our understanding of how established companies operating in dynamic and global environment can benefit from their corporate venturing activities. The theoretical part approaches the research problem in corporate and venture levels. Firstly, it focuses on mapping the determinants of strategy and suggests using industry, location, resources, knowledge, structure and culture, market, technology and business model to assess the environment and using these determinants to optimize speed and magnitude of change.Secondly, it concludes that the choice of innovation strategy is dependent on the type and dimensions of innovation and suggests assessing market, technology, business model as well as novelty and complexity related to each of them for choosing an optimal context for developing innovations further. Thirdly, it directsattention on processes through which corporate renewal takes place. On corporate level these processes are identified as strategy formulation, strategy formation and strategy implementation. On the venture level the renewal processes are identified as learning, leveraging and nesting. The theoretical contribution of this study, the framework of strategic corporate venturing, joins corporate and venture level management issues together and concludes that strategy processes and linking processes are the mechanism through which continuous corporate renewaltakes place. The framework of strategic corporate venturing proposed by this study is a new way to illustrate the role of corporate venturing as a purposefullybuilt, different view of a company's business environment. The empirical part extended the framework by enhancing our understanding of the link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing in its real life environment in three Finnish companies: Metso, Nokia and TeliaSonera. Characterizing companies' environmentwith the determinants of strategy identified in this study provided a structured way to analyze their competitive position and renewal challenges that they arefacing. More importantly the case studies confirmed that a link between corporate renewal and corporate venturing exists and found out that the link is not as straight forward as indicated by the theory. Furthermore, the case studies enhanced the framework by indicating a sequence according to which the processes work. Firstly, the induced strategy processes strategy formulation and strategy implementation set the scene for corporate venturing context and management processes and leave strategy formation for the venture. Only after that can strategies formed by ventures come back to the corporate level - and if found viable in the corporate level be formalized through formulation and implementation. With the help of the framework of strategic corporate venturing the link between corporaterenewal and corporate venturing can be found and managed. The suggested response to the continuous need for change is continuous renewal i.e. institutionalizing corporate renewal in the strategy processes of the company. As far as benefiting from venturing is concerned the answer lies in deliberately managing venturing in a context different to the mainstream businesses and establishing efficientlinking processes to exploit the renewal potential of individual ventures.

Strategiamenetelmän hyödyntäminen huonekaluliiketoiminnan kehittämisessä

Strategia on yrityksen toiminnan perusta. Perinteisillä toimialoilla ei välttämättä nähdä tavoitteellisen strategian tarpeellisuutta ja tärkeä strategiasuunnittelu jää toissijaiseksi. Löytämällä erottuva strategia omaa yritys kilpailuedun. Sinisen meren strategia on teoreettinen viitekehys luoda erilaistavaa liiketoimintaa. Strategian avulla voidaan tunnistaa ja luoda strategiaprofiili uudelle liiketoiminnalle jossa kilpailu ei tehnyt toiminnasta liian haavoittuvaista. Tämä nykytilanteen analysointiin ja siitä erilaistumiseen perustuva muutos voi liittyä itse tuotteeseen tai palveluun, sen tuotteistamiseen tai tuotteen jakelutien uudelleenasemointiin. Strategiatyön tarpeellisuus huonekalujen valmistamisessa ja myynnissä on muuttuvassa tilanteessa avainasemassa. Korkea valmistamisen kustannustaso ei mahdollista kilpailua edullisien tuontituotteiden kanssa ja korkeamman hintatason tuotteilla on toisaalta rajattu ostajakunta sisämarkkinoilla. Monelle toimijalle vientityön aloittaminen on riskialtis kustannuserä. Huonekaluteollisuudessa ja –jakeluteissä on ylikapasiteettia suhteessa kannattavaan liiketoimintaan. Erilaistavina markkinatekijöinä on pidetty hintaa molemmissa ääripäissä, laatua ja designiä. Hyvän jakelutien omaavat yritykset ovat hoitaneet valtakunnallisen myynnin karsien pienet toimijat alalta. Valmistuksessa innovatiivisuus perustuu lähinnä tehokkaaseen tuotantotekniikkaan, mikä osaltaan on nostanut investointien tasoa ja toteutuksen mielekkyyttä. Tuotteena huonekalu on kuitenkin teknisiltä ominaisuuksiltaan yleensä matala ja jo pienellä pääomalla on aloitettavissa tuotannollinen toiminta, mutta tällöin ei menestytä välttämättä tuottavuudessa. Uusina tekijöinä kompleksisessa tilanteessa on nähtävissä voimakkaasti tulossa oleva ympäristöarvojen suurempi huomioiminen. Näistä elementeistä voidaan etsiä strategiaprofiilin avulla uusia markkinarajapintoja, joissa kilpailutilanne mahdollistaa kannattavan liiketoiminnan. Työssä tutkitaan strategiamenetelmän hyödyntämismahdollisuutta, sen perusteita ja tarpeellisuutta perinteisen muutosjäykän teollisuudenalan ja kilpailtujen huonekalumarkkinoiden segmentissä. Uuden toimintamallin tarpeen, strategian, ymmärtämiseksi on tiedostettava ympäristössä tapahtuneet muutokset ja kartoitettava nykyinen strategiaprofiili. Tähän liittyen läpikäydään ne seikat jotka ovat aiheuttaneet nykytilanteen ja näin muutostarpeen tässä markkinassa.

Innovativeness in an industrial enterprise

Innovativeness is one of the most important factors of a successful and competitive company, and because of this every company wants to be more and more innovative. The purpose of this study is to clarify the current state of the case company’s innovativeness with the help of a questionnaire survey based on characteristics of an innovative company presented in the literature. In addition, an action plan for improving the case company’s innovativeness is formulated. Based on theoretical background the components of an innovative company can be divided in six classes. These classes are innovation strategy, innovation management, cooperation and communication, idea management, support mechanisms and innovative organizational culture. The empirical study proves that there are notable differences between and inside these previously mentioned classes within the case company. The study indicates also that although systematic innovation activities are rather new issues to the case company, the prerequisites for innovation and innovativeness exist. In order to be able to develop its innovativeness, the case company should invest resources in aligning its innovation operations towards a more systematic approach. However, perceivable results in the company’s innovativeness can be achieved by proper communication.

Innovative Culture – Searching for Innovativeness in a Construction Company

The purpose of the thesis is to study innovativeness in a context of the construction industry especially the front-end of the innovation process. The construction industry is often considered an old-fashioned manufacturing industry. Innovations and innovativeness are rarely linked to the industry. The construction industry, as well as other industries in Finland, is facing challenges such as productivity, the climate change and internationalization. The meaning of innovations is greater than ever in continuously changing markets, for standing out from competitors or increasing the competitiveness. Traditional production methods, tight building regulations, unique buildings, one-of-a-kind project organizations and highlighting the cheapest price in building contracts are particular challenges in the construction industry. The research questions of the thesis were: - What kind of factors shift the existing company culture towards innovativeness? - What are the phases of the front-end of the innovation process? - What kind of tools and methods enable managing the front-end of the innovation process? The theoretical part of the thesis bases on the literature review. The research methodology of the empirical part was the action research and qualitative approach. Empirical data was collected by the theme interviews from three companies. The results were practical methods and experiences from innovation activities of the companies. The results of the thesis can be clarified as follows: enhancement of the innovation activities requires support and commitment of the top management, innovative culture and innovation strategy. Innovativeness can be promoted by systematical methods for example collecting ideas from employees. Controlling and managing the front-end phase is essential to succeeding. Despite that managing the front-end is the most challenging part of the innovation process, development and management of that save companies’ money, resources and prevents useless investments. Further clarification and studies are needed to find out furthermore functional tools and methods to manage innovations and implementing them to the culture of the companies.

Strategic external deployment of intellectual assets

Globalization, pervasiveness of technology and ICT, and the buildup of information societies and policies have lead to a growing abundance of knowledge and highly educated labour supply that is distributed widely. These changes have shifted the foundation of competitiveness to valuable knowledge resources which are now distributed widely across the globe, across actors in the value chain and across educated individuals in multiple organizations. Against this backdrop, the paradigm of open innovation (OI) has emerged as a new response to managing the increased amount of boundary-spanning knowledge flows in and out of the innovation process. The outbound mode of open innovation, that is to say the external exploitation of knowledge assets outside of the firm’s own products and services, has been the less-researched aspect of the concept and so far typically seen as concerning the outlicensing of unused technological assets to generate additional revenue. Given that open innovation is essentially a framework for the holistic structuring and management of crossboundary knowledge flows to improve a firm’s innovative performance, a close integration to corporate strategy seems imperative in order to fully benefit from it. Integrating open innovation to strategy leads to elevating its role from a fringe activity to a central innovation management issue that needs to be systematically managed. Building a structure that allows effective management necessitates linking open innovation activities to each phase of the innovation process. Previously, the connection between outbound OI and the earlier stages of innovation has not been studied. The thesis finds that connecting outbound OI to the entire innovation process of the firm, including the fuzzy front end of innovation, is critical for attaining strategic objectives and to the successful implementation and management of the activity. The practical purpose for the research is to enable companies to fully utilize their potential for outbound open innovation and to be able to implement and manage it from a strategic standpoint.