Vol 6 - Issue 1

Technology and Innovation

List of Articles

This article introduces the special issue of Technology and Innovation on the engineering of collaborative innovation. The use of collaboration and partners from different sectors becomes essential in a complex economic, societal and environmental context. In this article, the definition of collaborative innovation and its use in the generation of social innovations, marketing innovations and service innovations are developed. Furthermore, this article presents the concepts of top-down and bottom-up strategies, knowledge creation, acceleration of the innovation cycle and do-it-yourself through examples deriving from different sectors.

Open innovation and collaborative innovation are widely used in a variety of different disciplines, from management to economics and social sciences. These concepts were developed in opposition to closed innovation, which promotes activities that are internal to firms, relying only on the resources already present. Firms opening their borders allows the intensification of collaborations with various types of actors to support innovation internally. The degree of openness that firms must ensure to promote innovation processes is a source of divergence in several works. Furthermore, few works have studied the territorial dimension of open innovation. Physical proximity is a necessary and minimum condition for innovation, alongside other dimensions of proximity (cognitive and institutional). National innovation systems, industrial districts and clusters promoting the production and circulation of knowledge have been at work, supported by local policies and have flourished for several decades. Finally, open innovation promotes a diversity of the partnerships that become possible, although this also creates difficulties at different levels between the involved firms.

The constant development of innovation networks (clusters and other related concepts) has forced major changes in the collaboration practices between firms and academics. By promoting innovation, these heterogeneous systems are considered to be the necessary tools for propelling the success and competitiveness of the economies of tomorrow. They are attracting growing interest from researchers and practitioners, but they also generate interest from governments. However, while they are very conducive to generating innovations, the lack of a marketing and market-oriented approach of collaborative projects within them limits their scope (dissemination and market adoption). These difficulties are notably linked to the consequences of the diversity of stakeholders’ strategic intentions and their lack of shared visions about the “market” aspects.This article examines the contributions of innovation marketing, applied to a collaborative context with interactions between companies and academics. It investigates the “market-pull” - “techno-push” innovation dilemma. It advocates giving marketing a key role as a transversal function within collaborative innovation projects, with the market as the common thread of its actions and a vector for the integration of innovations. We consider that successful collaborative innovation is based on a hybrid approach, focusing on the technological dimension while integrating market aspects.

Market innovation answers the question "how to do it differently" in selling and exchanging goods and services. It focuses on the object of the exchange but also on the construction of this commercial exchange by considering the players and the environment. Market innovation includes technological aspects and those of the techniques used, as well as social, organizational and informational aspects. This article aims to define the concept of market innovation and to provide elements of understanding and reflection on the way in which this management device allows us to rethink the market. Indeed, market innovation highlights the competitive dynamics of a sector and the new opportunities for brands and retailers.

The current economic context is one in which innovation increasingly conditions the economic growth prospects of territories and where the service sector represents almost 70% of the GDP of developed countries. Innovation in the service sector is a major issue for the economic development of territories. However, there is little empirical evidence on the question of service innovation and there is, to date, a limited number of studies allowing us to characterize the innovation processes in this sector, as well as their implications in terms of public policies. However, this seems paradoxical, given the significant share that the service sector represents in our economies. The objective of this article is to provide an analysis that will help us to better understand the challenges relating to innovation in the service sector. First, the definition of service innovation will be presented. Secondly, the specifics of the innovation processes in this sector will be presented, then the territorial impacts observed and, finally, the public policies that have been implemented to promote the local dynamics of innovation in these activities.

The concept of social innovation has gained significant traction over the past few years. Academic work is mostly focused on defining and delineating the concept and on grasping its socio-economic importance. The issue of the collective creative processes associated with its production has therefore been overlooked. We will address this theoretical gap through recourse to the model of creative ecology. By highlighting the coexistence of different economic strata, (upper-, middle-, underground), this model allows us to argue that social innovation may be produced through two complementary logics. Social innovations produced through a top-down logic originate in the upperground. They benefit from a high diffusion potential. However, their social outcome may be limited, due to the fact that they are subject to a trade-off between social impact and economic viability. On the other hand, social innovations produced through a bottom-up logic stem from the underground. As they are coproduced with beneficiaries, they are most able to address their specific social needs, but may be difficult to scale up. This is why both logics can be at work simultaneously, which, in turn, raises governance issues. We will argue that social economy organizations contribute to solving these issues, as they act as innovation intermediaries.

This paper focuses on knowledge creation in civil aviation organizations. Based on interviews with pilots and air traffic controllers, we assess the impact and effects of the interactions of aviation security professionals on the complexification of organizational knowledge, and on established processes and their resulting reliability. Our findings indicate some significant gaps in organizational communication, which may lead to a reduction in the reliability of civil aviation operations, especially when the processes are linked to profit maximization.

In order to investigate the relationship between bricolage and innovation, we will consider it first formally as a new concept, but also in its logical perception and its current application. We will then look at it as a central mechanism in a broader context, through its link to improvisation and frugal innovation, to put forward a synthesis based on a scheme aiming to explain creative innovation dynamics. The main purpose is to shed light on the crucial role of bricolage in relation to improvisation, in order to create artefacts as well as to innovate.

Collaborative innovation has been the subject of many research studies, especially on open innovation [CHE 08] as it is a highly collaborative process (Paun et al, 2012; [ONE 12], [LAP 12]). This organizational process integrates a variety of public and private actors, sometimes in the form of communities of thought and action. These communities create, share and promote different knowledge, aiming to establish, both collectively and individually, the shared value of innovation (incremental, radical of disruptive) in a wider range of sectors and markets. Based on observations and analysis of concrete experiments, sharing of good practice and tools for accelerating innovation in France and the United States, this article provides an analysis of the impact of these new innovation strategies and tools on the acceleration of innovation cycles; and consequently, on the acceleration of the shared value creation process by major industrial groups, SMEs, laboratories and innovation acceleration structures.

Mobile payment systems are based on many technologies. This paper builds on a fairly comprehensive review of the scientific literature, relative to the recent development of mobile payment systems. It presents the main current solutions and some implementations. However, many issues remain open, including the security of personal data, which raises ethical concerns related to privacy, among other concerns. The article shows how, in the Covid-19 era, ethics are an asset for improving digital trust in mobile payment systems that have become essential tools in the lives of citizens.