International Innovation Lab Conference

Innovation matters – of course. Unless organizations change what they offer the world and the ways in which they create and deliver those offerings, they risk falling behind in today’s turbulent and complex environment. Smart firms know this and they invest time and trouble to create systems, structures and processes to ensure a sustained flow of innovation.

A key part of the problem is that dealing with several kinds of innovation requires a very different set of capabilities for organizing and managing them. Searching in unlikely places, building links to strange partners, allocating resources to high risk ventures, exploring new ways of looking at the business - all of these challenge the ‘normal’ way firms approach the innovation problem. And while we know a lot about how to manage the simple kinds of innovation, we are much less clear about where and how to start building discontinuous innovation capability. Smart firms are carrying out various experiments in this direction, but no-one could claim to have found an answer. We’re all still learning - and that’s where the Innovation Lab comes in.

The Innovation Lab poses an opportunity for firms to learn together about managing and balancing different kinds of innovation – by sharing experiences, trying new things out, reflecting on what has and hasn’t worked and looking at new ideas and models. By linking up with other firms, working with (practically minded!) academic researchers and drawing on experience in different sectors and countries there is a chance to compare, contrast, share and develop a better understanding of this major challenge. For company delegates, the Innovation Lab offers the chance to share ideas and network with other firms in very different sectors, but facing common problems. New ideas and tools, new approaches to the problem and an opportunity to reflect and explore in a safe – and confidential – way can be explored. By bringing together and sharing the experience across Innovation Labs in 16 countries, the International Innovation Lab Conference will be the 7^th annual meeting of the Innovation Lab Initiative and continue a fascinating journey. It also aims to build closer links to the BALANCE research community and in this respect builds on the earlier Nuremberg meeting in 2010.

Chairs

Prof. John Bessant, University of Exeter
Dr. Anna Trifilova, Nizhny Novgorod Architecture and Civil Engineering State University
Dr. Bettina von Stamm, Innovation Leadership Forum
Prof. Kathrin M. Möslein, FAU
Prof. Dr. Peter Augsdörfer, Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften FH Ingolstadt

Kontaktinformationen
Dipl.-Kfm. Karl Rabes
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Lehrstuhl Wirtschaftsinformatik 1
Tel.: +49 (0) 911 5302154
Fax. +49 (0) 911 5302155
E-Mail: karl.rabes@wiso.uni-erlangen.de

Sessions