A guide in the rain forest – the role of a regional strategic network in an innovation processJens Eklinder-Frick

Academic Summit: Innovation and business models in clusters

4 September 2013

2013-08-22

A GUIDE IN THE RAIN FOREST? – THE ROLE OF A REGIONAL STRATEGIC NETWORK IN AN

INNOVATION PROCESS

by Jens Eklinder-Frick

Gävle University

Regional strategic networks (Cluster initiatives)

Innovation processesit is a complex process of combining something new with the organizational structures needed to enable its widespread use

Theoretical framework

Studied case

• Future Position X (FPX) in Gävle• RSN focusing on GIS technology• Founded in 2006• 41 member org in 2013 • 13 employees, board of 11 members

• Development of the CRISP (Crisis Information Sharing Platform) technology started in 2007

The CRISP plattform

CRISP emergency services

RALFSOS –Alarm Service

Swedish TransportAdmin

Real property regeristry

Swedish Police

The CRISP plattform

CRISP

CRISP

emergency services

RALFSOS –Alarm Service

Swedish TransportAdmin

Real property regeristry

Swedish Police Karolinska Uni

Heidelberg Uni

Fudan Uni

Huazhong Uni

Local medical facilities

pre-schools /Kinder Gardens

ISS China (India, Sweden)

The CRISP plattform

CRISP

CRISP

CRISP

emergency services

RALFSOS –Alarm Service

Swedish TransportAdmin

Real property regeristry

Swedish Police Karolinska Uni

Heidelberg Uni

Fudan Uni

Huazhong Uni

Local medical facilities

pre-schools /Kinder Gardens

ISS China (India, Sweden)

Catch a Feather

City of Sandviken

Local shops

Local sports teams

Local youth organizations

Geotest

RALF

ISSC

ISSI

ISSS

SCA

RALF

10 test

10 test stations in India

10 test

1 500 test stations in China

Lantmäteriet –Real property

Swedish Police

Swedish Transport Admin

SMHI –Weather services

LFV-Aviation

SOS –Alarm Service

South HälsinglandEmergency Service

GästrikeEmergency Service

Soft SecurityBlueplot

Invotech

R-con Sweden

ReflektusAnido

HeidelbergUniversity

HuazhongUniversity

FudanUniversity

Baidu Map Ltd

KarolinskaUniversity

GävleUniversity

Folk-universitetet

ESRI S-Group

GästrikeRecycling

GästrikeEnergy

GästrikeWater City of

Sandviken

Gadder AB Donald Davies

Triona Bicycle Project

Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency

Swedish Inst for Communicable Disease Control

N I for Communicable DiseasesIn South Africa

County of UjjainIn India

RD GardiMedical Collage

Uppfinnaren Daycare

Gävleborg county epidemiology

Gävleborg County 1177 – Medical hotline

Private company

Academic institution

Public organization

Several actors

Joint project

Applications of the CRISP platform

North HälsinglandEmergency Service

“Innovation is the invention in use”

(Ingemansson, 2010:13)

“An innovation must fit into the eco-system of the

market” (Håkansson et al, 2009)

Developing, producing and using setting

The developing setting is where new solutions are searched for by combining alternative combinations of material and immaterial resources. “Birth of the innovation”

Developing, producing and using setting

The developing setting is where new solutions are searched for by combining alternative combinations of material and immaterial resources. “Birth of the innovation”

The producing setting: In order for a new potential innovation to be embedded into producer user interfaces it must be transformed into ‐some type of product or process. “innovation brought to market”

Developing, producing and using setting

The developing setting is where new solutions are searched for by combining alternative combinations of material and immaterial resources. “Birth of the innovation”

The producing setting: In order for a new potential innovation to be embedded into producer user interfaces it must be transformed into ‐some type of product or process. “Innovation brought to market”

The using setting consists of a wide set of material and immaterial investments made by the actors in the established business structure. The outcome of any new solution is dependent upon how it effects these actors’ prior investments; if only a few can gain advantages from using the new solution it will never reach widespread use. “Innovation in use”

Developing, producing and using setting

The developing setting is where new solutions are searched for by combining alternative combinations of material and immaterial resources. “Birth of the innovation”

The producing setting: In order for a new potential innovation to be embedded into producer user interfaces it must be transformed into ‐some type of product or process. “Innovation brought to market”

The using setting consists of a wide set of material and immaterial investments made by the actors in the established business structure. The outcome of any new solution is dependent upon how it effects these actors’ prior investments; if only a few can gain advantages from using the new solution it will never reach widespread use. “Innovation reaching widespread use”

The developing setting is where new solutions are searched for by combining alternative combinations of material and immaterial resources.

The producing setting: In order for a new potential innovation to be embedded into producer user interfaces it must be transformed into ‐some type of product or process.

The using setting consists of a wide set of material and immaterial investments made by the actors in the established business structure. The outcome of any new solution is dependent upon how it effects these actors’ prior investments; if only a few can gain advantages from using the new solution it will never reach widespread use.

This paper investigates the hindrance and driving forces that a policy initiated innovation process will encounter when undertaken within the context of a regional strategic network.

Developing setting Scientific, academic and business actors were involved in the projects.

“The CRISP platform was already half way developed when the ISS project was initiated. It was easy to see that the CRISP information and the symptoms data was almost the same thing, we could plot it out in the same system”. (ISS, RALF)

“In this project it is the academics that have created the problem that they are trying to solve, and they have theories they wish to verify. If a single business actor would steer the development they would have a single practical problem that they wished to solve” (ISS).

Producing setting“Not even in China is it safe to assume that it is feasible to include manual data into a large scale system” (ISS)

“It would take a while to coordinate all these different data into an application, and to communicate the benefit. Then you would need to market the application and to provide support enabling the use. Marknadsplats Sandviken does not have the knowledge required to handle such an operation”. (Chatch a feather)

“the most important issue is that when this project comes to and end and we are supposed to enter the next phase in development, there must be a supplier that takes care of certain things. We are in need of some form of customer support that may help us in customizing the applications”. (RALF)

Using setting“The important thing is that there is communication between us and them; that they know of our problems. ”We want to solve your problems”, that should be the business actors role.” (ISS)

“The technology is really a small part of the investment needed. What is also needed is the training of the users and the incentive to do so”. (ISS)

“It is easy to buy an advert in the local paper; you understand how to do that. You do not need to show the customer how to read the local paper, but to use an smartphone application is another issue ”. (Catch a feather)

“Well, when he (a developer of CRISP) is making his sales pitch, it gets a little too complicated. -What can you do and offer? -Well, everything! The customer wants to know more precisely what is on offer”. (RALF)

FPX played the role of being the bridge between science and business.

Combining a wide range of developers and end-users in one innovation process without retaining intellectual property rights and heightened secrecy might be one way in which a RSN plays an important role in the “eco-system” of the market.

focus in the studied RSN was put upon the developing and the using setting.

The lack of resources in the producing setting was by several respondents adhered to the rules that a RSN must abide by because of their external funding.

Conclusions