EXPLOIT AND EXPLORE: TWO WAYS OF CATEGORIZING INNOVATION PROJECTS

DS 68-3: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 11), Impacting Society through Engineering Design, Vol. 3: Design Organisation and Management, Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark, 15.-19.08.2011

Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Cantemessa, M.
Author: Ericson, Åsa; Kastensson, Åsa
Series: ICED
Section: Design Organisation and Management
Page(s): 284-293

Abstract

Innovation is vital to companies, but also difficult to perform since there are many ways to approach the subject. Typically, a balance between all issues related to innovation is suggested in literature. The empirical study presented in this paper elaborates on two strategies for innovation projects, namely to exploit existing solutions and to explore a market to develop breakthrough solutions. This is done for the purpose to discuss management implications, and thereby also make those transparent for innovation projects. The result indicates that managerial implications for radical innovation projects are to provide internal legitimacy for the projects intentions, to provide for a clear view of balancing aspects by using concepts that fit into opposite ends on a continuum, and to preserve a rich information base about users.

Keywords: INNOVATION PROJECTS; INNOVATION; ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT; CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

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