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