innovation process

Innovation is a central determinant of the competitiveness of a company. The discovery, development and realization of innovative ideas are, however, bound up with challenges and risks. Against this backdrop, new paths and resources must be demonstrated, particularly for small and mid-sized enterprises (SME). This article is concerned with the open-innovation approach in the pharmaceutical industry and describes the interaction between research and practice to open the existing innovation processes in three SME.

The research project “Open Innovation in Life Sciences” (project duration May 2008-April 2011) aims at the development and implementation of new innovation strategies and concepts for SMEs in the life sciences segment. In particular inside-out and outside-in processes in joint innovation projects beyond firm boundaries are analyzed. The life sciences segment is known as being highly research intense and interdisciplinary. As a result of the growing complexity of innovation processes, the development of cooperative, i.e. open innovation strategies for SMEs has become more important. SMEs can gain the capability to tap crucial innovation potentials by bundling distributed complementary knowledge. The article describes the development of a method which might help to evaluate opportunities and risks of different innovation concepts. This may serve as basis for decision-making regarding the implementation of a predefined innovation process. Project outcomes are expected to be an ...

An innovation process based on the principles of Total Technology Development involves the systematic use of available know-how and employment of the technology potential. The thus generated innovations focus on actual needs and requirements. There is a new definition for measurement of innovation: The increase of “System Ideality”. This principle forms the base for the strategic direction of the company. An essential part of this approach is the functional view of the system with an analytical valuation. This article describes the theorem of the new management method.

Together with the companies Alcatel SEL, Knorr-Bremse, Rohde&Schwarz, Temic and Webasto by leadership of the author a BMBF sponsored research project has been carried out. The task and target of the project partners was to develop a reliable and workable forecasting model for duration and effort of an industrial development project. Up to now there is a lack of a systematic approach to forecast and to plan development time considering dynamic changes of the frame conditions. The following article describes the development and successful implementation of a forecasting model for development times and shows the effects by picturing and describing two case studies.