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Overview: Few companies and organizations remain innovative for long periods of time, and despite high ambitions, many innovation initiatives fail to yield the desired results. Identifying how best to measure the effectiveness of innovation initiatives is key to ensuring that those efforts actually help an organization achieve its overall goals. This article offers organizations and their leaders practical advice for measuring innovation effectively. Specifically, it defines innovation measurement and its importance in precise terms and summarizes six years of our research on innovation measurement in multiple firms and industries. We articulate nine critical lessons for improving innovation measurement in real-world practice clustered into three overarching themes: Strategy, Organization, and Measurement Design. Each of the nine lessons elucidates a problem, identifies potential consequences, and proposes concrete solutions that organizations can implement as they strive to better measure and, ultimately, improve their innovation management initiatives. Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-03-20 (hanlid)

Digital healthcare platforms have enabled patients to receive healthcare in ways that were impossible previously—for example, by providing a “safer” way to meet, as underscored by the Covid-19 pandemic. This article investigates whether older and younger primary care users display behavioral differences on digital healthcare platforms. The article adopts a mixed-method approach in which one-way ANOVA analysis on a sample of 152 000 patient journeys was combined with qualitative interview data. The findings highlight significant differences in usage between elderly and younger patients. The elderly spends more time during use—for example, during anamnesis, onboarding, and in queues. We also outline how the key antecedent factors that are most central to platform usage, such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, digital maturity, and trust, play out in the elderly user context. The study contributes to the nascent literature on digital healthcare platforms and the postadoption usage of information and communication technologies by the elderly. The article also outlines research implications in the area of DHPs and mHealth for elderly users, and it discusses the practical implications for both platform owners and healthcare professionals, where platform design and information management are particularly important for elderly users. Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-07-12 (sofila)

Godkänd; 2016; 20150916 (sartho)

Despite the key role of actor networks in progressing new sustainable technologies, there is a shortage of conceptual knowledge on how policy can help strengthen collaborative practices in such networks. The objective of this paper is to analyze the roles of such policies – so-called network management – throughout the entire technological development processes. The analysis draws on the public management and sustainability transitions literatures, and discusses how various network characteristics could affect the development of sustainable technologies, including how different categories of network management strategies could be deployed to influence actor collaborations. The paper's main contribution is an analytical framework that addresses the changing roles of network management at the interface between various phases of the technological development process, illustrated with the empirical case of advanced biorefinery technology development in Sweden. Furthermore, the analysis also addresses some challenges that policy makers are likely to encounter when pursuing network management strategies, and identifies a number of negative consequences of ignoring such instruments in the innovation policy mix. The latter include inefficient actor role-taking, the emergence of small, ineffective and competing actor networks in similar technological fields, and a shortage of interpretative knowledge.

The state plays a potentially important role in the processes of industrial renewal by adopting an active “green” industrial policy, since different types of market failures or system weaknesses can prevent the growth of new and more environmentally friendly technology. All too often, however, attempts to address such failures give rise to new problems and additional cost because the shaping of the policy fails to achieve the goals set and/or it creates unintentional repercussions in the economy. The role of the state in the development of new technology is therefore difficult and complex. This report discusses and reviews the role of the state in the green transition of industry whereby it adopts a so-called green industrial policy. Our purpose has been to look specifically at the role of the state in connection with sustainable capital-intensive investment, a typical example of which is the possibility of a lithium-ion battery factory in Sweden. This report is based on an analysis of the existing research on the pros and cons of green industrial policy. A first step is to discuss the various arguments for and against green industrial policy. One argument overriding the others in favour of such a policy is that high investment risks mean private-sector actors are not sufficiently keen to invest in new and untried technology. Their level of keenness may also be adversely affected by the fact that knowledge about new technology is a collective benefit; i.e. the knowledge developed “spills over” to other actors, which means any investment return will be lower for the private-sector actor than for the economy as a whole. The risks associated with green industrial policy include the fact that it could be “hijacked” by special interests which do not have the ability to develop the new technology by effective means, and the fact that the insufficient amount of information available would make it difficult for state actors to invest in the right technology. There are, moreover, difficulties associated with shaping a policy that can accurately pinpoint the most important risks and gaps in knowledge, including the risk that the different positive effects of the industrial policy will be realised outside the country’s borders. In a further step the report identifies and discusses the basis on which to shape green industrial policy. There needs to be clear accountability and transparency on the part of the state in the sense that there are clear visions, goals and ideas about which specific role the state ought to play in order to promote the desired development. In addition, the industrial policy ought to be based on a good understanding of the process of technological develop-ment; i.e. the stages of development, feedback mechanisms and the specific obstacles encountered by new technology in the innovation system. In the case of capital-intensive green investment with a long life it is also especially important that a consistent, far-sighted policy is in place to make the transition. Furthermore, no decisions regarding the shaping and implementing of the policy ought to be done independently of the skills and experience available in the industry in question, although this should involve making sure at all times that it does not compromise the independent standing of the state. Different types of specific instruments have different purposes, and as a rule what is needed is a “mix” of different instruments for implementing a green industrial policy that is fit for purpose. The report makes a distinction between technical, market-driving and system-wide instruments. In the context of this categorisation, the report concludes with a brief review of which specific instruments could be used for realising the policy chosen. The analysis here is not exhaustive, but the report provides a number of examples of how the choice of instruments can influence the conditions for implementing a green industrial policy that is fit for purpose.

As an area of excellence in research and innovation, EffectiveInnovation & Organization (EIO) at Luleå University ofTechnology (LTU) represents an important initiative aimedat addressing societal challenges by combining engineeringand social science research. EIO enables the pooling of resourcesfrom various scientific disciplines to address manyof the societal challenges Sweden is currently facing. Thisbook is one result from such pooling of disciplines, resourcesand cross-disciplinary discussions. Here, some leading EIOresearchers have jointly analysed and reflected upon fivekey societal challenges to identify some of their implicationsand future pathways for research at LTU. All of these challengesspan multiple scientific domains, and competence ininnovation and organisation will be critical if they are to beaddressed effectively.

ObjectivesThe aim of WP4 “Innovative Processing” is to elaborate how innovations in mineral and metallurgical processing are generated or taken up in different EU Member States and on EU‐level and how this is either facilitated or inhibited by policies and legislation on national or European level. The purpose oft he deliverable 4.3 is to complement the findings of D4.1 and D4.2 by carrying out additional interviews with representatives from different stakeholder groups (academia, industry, NGO’s and policymakers). The topics and questions of the questionnaire addressed the respondents’ perception of national and EU‐ and EU MS level mineral policies, gaps and needs with respect to innovation in mineral‐ and metallurgical processing. Questions for the questionnaire focus on previously identified innovations in mineral processing, metallurgical processing and metal recycling. Based on the input both from previous deliverables and from findings through the additional interviews and innovation cases, an analysis of needs and gaps as well as a SWOT analysis has been conducted. Recommendations for future development of mineral and metallurgical processing sector were evaluated. Main FindingsConclusions and recommendations for future policy development for innovation in mineral and metallurgical processing were developed based on a survey and a SWOT analysis. Most of the mineral policies are addressing the entire mineral value chain. Several statutory provisions are related to mineral and metallurgical processing. National mineral policies are not very much addressing the mineral and metallurgical processing, while recycling is dislocated from mining/mineral legislation. The sentiment amongst policy makers towards the raw materials industry has improved on EU level through a number of strategic policy initiatives (e.g. the Strategic Implementation Plan for Raw materials, the revised EU Industrial Policy Strategy, the Raw Materials Initiative). The use of raw materials from secondary sources has been identified as being an integral part of the life cycle of materials. Innovations in mineral and metallurgical processing are not supported at strategic and economic/investment level. The policy is neutral or inhibiting through long and uncertain permitting procedure, or is indifferent to innovation as to mineral and metallurgical processing. The European knowledge and skills base in mineral and metallurgical processing has diminished during the past 20 years. Deliverable 4.3

Även om Svenska bolag generellt sett är duktiga på att följa den tekniska utvecklingen i sina branscher så finnsen stor förbättringspotential gällande innovationsförmåga generellt och nyhetsgrad i idéer och produktkonceptmer specifikt. Därför är det intressant att närmare analysera organisering av framgångsrika innovationsprojekt itidiga faser för att bättre förstå det arbete som sker där och vilka lärdomar som kan göras

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) strongly depend on idea generation to improve the front-end of innovation performance, yet internal resource and capability limitations may hamper successful idea generation in SMEs. Therefore, many SMEs may choose to collaborate with market-based partners such as customers and suppliers to compensate for lack of internal resources. We ask when and under which circumstances does such collaboration provides’ highest benefit towards front-end innovation performance? By drawing on a survey of 142 Swedish manufacturing SMEs, this paper provides two key findings. First, systematic idea generation and front-end performance relationships is non-linear, such that disproportionally higher levels of performance are achieved when idea generation is highly systematic. Second, the pay-off from high level of idea generation is largely influenced by presence of market-based partners. Thus, our findings show that external collaboration in idea generation does not pay off unless SMEs have internal systematic processes for idea generation in place before external input is sought. This implies a contingency perspective on external collaboration and provides implications for research into the front-end of innovation and open innovation, in addition to novel managerial implications about how to better involve partners in idea generation and selection.

Godkänd; 2015; 20150804 (johfri)

Firms are increasingly reliant on collaborating with external partners to drive their technology development efforts in light of increasing pace of development and global competition. However, many firms struggle with managing the inherently uncertain and ambiguous process of technology development with external actors because these may not share the same technological understandings, processes and goals. Accordingly, we argue that further research is required to better understand the management of joint projects with different types of partners within technology development. To fill this gap this study examines the adaptation of traditional stage-gate processes for technology development projects with science-based and market-based partners in three large technologies oriented firms. Our results shows that open technology development projects are often problematic because firms lack partner understanding and have difficulty aligning their development processes with external partners. To address these problems we found that our firms adapted their processes by implementing externally oriented stages, gates and roles to suit the contingencies of collaboration with science-based and market-based partners respectively. Our results provide implications for theory and management practice concerning the management of open innovation and stage-gate processes.

In a world where advanced engineering products are commoditized, many manufacturing companies now strive to improve differentiation and profitability by offering integrated combinations of products and services known as product-service systems (PSS). Prior literature has proposed that such integrated offers be developed through an integrated product/service development process, but has so far not studied such integration in detail. To this background, our purpose is to study how integrated product/service offers actually come about. Our results are somewhat surprising, and paradoxical. Through an inductive multiple case study across eight multinational companies, we find that effective alignment-not integration-is the key to developing successful integrated PSS offerings. Thus, an integrated PSS offer seems to be reached through alignment rater than integration. The paper also identifies the key factors that inhibit integration and the various mechanisms that support alignment, and provides theoretical implications for literature and managerial implications for better development of integrated PSS solutions. Godkänd; 2015; 20160406 (samlen)

First, a descriptive overview of the Nordic mining and metal industry is provided. It shows that thereare a number of disparities among the firms in theNordic mining and metal industry, but there are alsomany similarities. Finland and Sweden both havewell-developed mining and metal industries. The geo-logical conditions are comparable and, consequently,production and outlook are in the main relativelysimilar for firms producing minerals and metals.Norway’s mineral and metal production mostlyconsists of industrial minerals, the potential of whichis promising. Greenland has great potential in its newmineral deposits. However, there are several challenges(e.g. difficulties in accessing the new mineral deposits,and problems related to infrastructure and a shortageof skilled workers) which need to be overcomebefore the mineral deposits can be explored.Key challenges for innovation have been identifiedand categorised into (a) specific challenges for keyactors and (b) cross-border challenges involvingseveral groups of producing firms in the Nordicmining and metal industry. The major innovationchallenges specific to the mining companies arein-creased production costs,atraditional and conservativemind-setanda short-term focus on exploration.Majorinnovation challenges for the metal producers areprimarilyold production plants and technology, low profitmargins and lack of employees with the right type of skills.The equipment suppliers’ foremost challenges arethe difficulties ofconducting experiments and testsandgaining access to the right type of knowledge.The analysisshows thatdemand for sustainable mining, difficultiesrelated to the exploration of new mineral deposits, a conserv-ative attitude towards innovation in the mining industry,global competition and procurement methods that emphasisepure cost concerns and the absence of pilot and demonstra-tion plantsare at this time the foremost cross-borderchallenges for innovation within the Nordic miningand metal industry. The Nordic countries have large mineral and metal assets stored in the bedrock and taken together they are the largest metal producer in the EU. The aim of this pre-study is to map the current situation in the Nordic mining and metal industry, together with its composition and conditions for innovation. Further, the pre-study aims to identify key challenges for innovation and suggestions for addressing them.First, a descriptive overview of the Nordic mining and metal industry is provided. It shows that there are a number of disparities among the firms in the Nordic mining and metal industry, but there are also many similarities. Finland and Sweden both have well-developed mining and metal industries. The geological conditions are comparable and, consequently, production and outlook are in the main relatively similar for firms producing minerals and metals. Norway’s mineral and metal production mostly consists of industrial minerals, the potential of which is promising. Greenland has great potential in its new mineral deposits. However, there are several challenges (e.g. difficulties in accessing the new mineral deposits, and problems related to infrastructure and a shortage of skilled workers) which need to be overcome before the mineral deposits can be explored. Key challenges for innovation have been identified and categorised into (a) specific challenges for key actors and (b) cross-border challenges involving several groups of producing firms in the Nordic mining and metal industry. The major innovation challenges specific to the mining companies are increased production costs, a traditional and conservative mind-set and a short-term focus on exploration. Major innovation challenges for the metal producers are primarily old production plants and technology, low profit margins and lack of employees with the right type of skills. The equipment suppliers’ foremost challenges are the difficulties of conducting experiments and tests and gaining access to the right type of knowledge. The analysis shows that demand for sustainable mining, difficulties related to the exploration of new mineral deposits, a conservative attitude towards innovation in the mining industry, global competition and procurement methods that emphasise pure cost concerns and the absence of pilot and demonstration plants are at this time the foremost cross-border challenges for innovation within the Nordic mining and metal industry. Godkänd; 2014; 20140813 (monikak)

Godkänd; 2014; 20140309 (patriks)

Godkänd; 2013; 20130909 (pererik)

Excessive project budget overruns is a serious problem that may endanger long-term competitive advantage and financial viability of firms engaged with process development together with equipment suppliers. Joint development of new process technology often span organizational boundaries and are frequently described as both uncertain and equivocal. With the aim to propose better management methods for such projects, we combine case study research with a multi-wave, multiple informant survey study of 52 collaborative process development projects. Our results show that joint problem solving is the key to reduce equivocality, whereas early end-user involvement allows project participants to reduce uncertainty. Uncertainty has a clear negative effect on budget performance, whereas mixed results were obtained for equivocality. These findings provide important implications for both theory development and operations management practice. Godkänd; 2013; 20140217 (davron)

Godkänd; 2013; 20131016 (vinpar)

When a new production plant is built or an existing one upgraded, it cannot betaken for granted that adequate process technology is available off the supplier’s shelves. Rather, itmay require a strong commitment on the process firm’s part to find competitive production solutions in collaboration with one ormore equipment suppliers. The development of such new or improved process technology may be prompted by the process company's need for process development, or product development, or both. The purpose of this article is to provide theoretical insight and practical guidance on how both process firms and equipment manufacturers can address the challenges posed by joint collaboration for innovation in new process technology/equipment. Starting with a discussion of motives and the question of why collaborative development of new or improved process technology/equipment should take place at all, a conceptual model of the full life cycle of process technology/equipment is introduced together with a classification matrix containing the dimensions of complexity of process technology and newness of process technology. The framework provides a conceptual platform for further research into this area, but can also be deployed by industry professionals in their efforts to improve inter-company collaboration. Validerad; 2012; 20120515 (johfri)

Prior studies suggest that open innovation activities positively influence innovation outcomes in large firms. However, few studies have investigated the implications of SMEs’ adoption of open innovation. We address this research gap by investigating the effects of four inbound open innovation activities on innovation performance of SMEs. In doing so, we draw on data from 252 high-tech SMEs. Our results reveal that different open innovation activities are beneficial for different innovation outcomes. For instance, technology sourcing is linked to radical innovation performance, whereas technology scouting is linked to incremental innovation performance. These findings hold several important theoretical and practical implications. Validerad; 2012; 20111229 (vinpar) CiiR-Centre for Inter-Organizational Innovation Research, Fastelaboratoriet – VINNEXC

The knowledge needed for development of new products isbecoming increasingly complex and distributed. There is aneed for firms to develop their capabilities for knowledgeintegration. Although prior knowledge-based literaturehas pointed to the importance of knowledge integrationfor competitive advantage, our understanding of how theintegration of different types of knowledge affects newproduct development (NPD) performance is still limited.We quantitatively examine the effect of the integrationof different types of knowledge on performance in NPD.Knowledge integration refers to the process of combiningspecialized but complementary knowledge. In this article weseek to study the effects of knowledge integration on NPDperformance. Previous studies point to the positive effectsof knowledge integration on NPD performance, but theydo not distinguish between different types of knowledgein examining these effects. This article therefore seeks tocontribute to this emerging literature by explicitly studyingthe integration of different types of knowledge and the effectsthat such integration have on NPD performance. We drawupon a classification of knowledge suggested by Ullman (1997)in discussing what types of knowledge that is particularlypertinent in engineering practices. That is, what knowledgeengineers draw upon in conducting design and developmentwork. We address the types of domain-specific knowledge,procedural knowledge, and general knowledge integration.Three hypotheses suggesting that the capabilities for integrationof each type of knowledge respectively affect NPD performancepositively are tested. A fourth hypothesis suggests that there arecomplementarity effects between integration of the three typesof knowledge upon NPD performance. Data was collectedduring 2009 from a sampling frame of 355 medium-sizedSwedish manufacturing firms in four industries. We received193 valid answers, i.e. a 54% response rate) Hypotheses weretested with standard OLS regression together with EFA andCFA analysis. The results provide support for the first threehypotheses, while the fourth one was rejected. This impliesthat capabilities to integrate domain-specific, proceduraland general knowledge are all independently affecting NPDperformance positively, but no combined effect above andbeyond the individual variables. This indicates that oneknowledge type can be integrated without an absolute need tointegrate two types or all three types. Godkänd; 2011; 20111010 (ysko)

Processutveckling genom samverkan med utrustningsleverantörer är ett viktigt sätt att uppnå konkurrensfördelar för processföretag. Men hur ska samverkan bedrivas för att gagna båda parter? Ett livscykelperspektiv för nya investeringsprojekt i processindustri ger ökad insikt om hur problem och möjligheter i olika faser hänger ihop, och effektiv ledning av samverkan främjas genom beaktande av kritiska aktiviteter under livscykelns olika faser. Godkänd; 2011; 20111220 (andbra)

Previous literature suggests that innovation managers should prioritize uncertainty reduction in early phases of innovation projects. When uncertainty is high, the general prediction is negative consequences in the form of time‐delays, waste of resources, unclear team vision and, ultimately, concept failure. There are strong reasons to believe, however, that simultaneous management of equivocality is equally important, but this concept has largely been neglected in previous research. By means of a case‐study relying upon exploratory interviews addressing unique observations of 58 innovation projects, we notice that the perhaps most significant challenge for being successful or not is not the initial levels of uncertainty. Rather, it is managerial attempts to actively fight for reducing uncertainty but also addressing the equivocality dimension in the pre‐development stages of the innovation process. We observe reduced patterns of uncertainty and equivocality in successful product innovation and process innovation projects in pre‐development stages. This was not the case for unsuccessful projects. Similarly, we find significantly lower levels of equivocality for successful projects, which is a contribution to prior research suggesting that uncertainty is the major concern during predevelopment. Moreover, our results show that perceived patterns of uncertainty and equivocality differ between product innovation and process innovation projects in different sub‐phases of pre‐development. Key results are summarized as propositions which not only provide guidance for future research, but also provide direct managerial implications on how to address uncertainty and equivocality in different sub‐phases of predevelopment.

Godkänd; 2008; 20081211 (johfri)

This thesis deals with various information aspects of new product development (NPD). In total, the thesis consists of 6 research articles appended in full, and an introductory text that integrates and theorizes with and from these papers. The first paper is a review article examining the literature on and role of information in NPD. The main argument put forward here is that information processing can be understood in terms of three steps: acquiring, sharing, and using information. The second paper is a largescale survey that examines the relationship between market and entrepreneurial orien-tation and performance in NPD. A market orientation is to a large extent about acquiring, disseminating and using market information, while an entrepreneurial orientation partly is about ignoring such information, and instead trying to be innovative, proactive, and take risks. The results show that a market orientation and innovativeness are positively related to NPD performance, and that neither product nor environmental characteristics moderate these relationships. The third paper is also a survey, and investigates the extent to which management of external information is associated with innovation performance. The main findings are that scanning the technological sector of the environment was positively associated with innovation performance, while scanning customers, suppliers, and competitors proved to be negatively correlated with innovation performance. Crossfunctional integration in the form of collaboration as well as using information from the industry environment also proved to be positively related to innovation performance. The last three papers have a centre of gravity in “management of information & environ-ment”, and not so much in new product development per se. Paper four describes and com-pares different information processing approaches (e.g. environmental scanning, marketing research) in order to identify their similarities and differences, but also their underlying con-cepts and the course of events they represent. The main conclusion is that differences exist primarily in terms of focus and scope. Paper five is a review and tentative integration of different perspectives in organization – environment research: the adaptive, the resource-dependence, the cognitive and the population-ecology perspective. The review identifies differences and similarities among these perspectives, suggests tentative conclusions on why the adaptive perspective is so frequently utilized at the expense of the other three, and suggests constructivism as a feasible avenue for combining and integrating these perspectives. Finally, the sixth and final paper deals with information use in the context of strategic decisionmaking. With a case study approach, the questions of why information is used, what kind of information is used, where it is obtained, and how it is obtained were addressed, and the results from this paper are mainly descriptive. The purpose of the introductory text is two-fold. In addition to providing integration of the appended papers, the main purpose is theory construction (i.e. elicitation of constructs and propositions). In the introduction, all six appended papers together with a new literature search and a new pilot case study are used to generate propositions about management of information, information sources, and the need for cross-functional integration in three different phases of the NPD process. In addition, suggestions regarding theoretical connections are made. The introduction text concludes with reflections, managerial implications, limitations, and future research. [Paper I] Frishammar, J. (2005). Managing Information in New Product Development: A Literature Review.International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 2(3): 259-275., [Paper II] Frishammar, J. and Hörte, S.Å. (2005). The Role of Market- and Entrepreneurial Orienta- tion for NPD Performance in Manufacturing Firms1. Short version presented at the 12th In- ternational product development management conference in Copenhagen, June 12-14, 2005. Full paper submitted to Research Policy., [Paper III] Frishammar, J. and Hörte, S.Å. (2005). Managing External Information in Manufacturing Firms: The Impact on Innovation Performance2. Journal of Product Innovation Manage- ment, 22(3): 251-266., [Paper IV] Frishammar, J. (2002). Characteristics in Information Processing Approaches. International Journal of Information Management, 22(2): 143-156., [Paper V] Frishammar, J. (2005). Organizational Environment Revisited: A Conceptual Review and Integration. Forthcoming inInternational Studies of Management & Organization., [Paper VI] Frishammar, J. (2003). Information Use in Strategic Decision-making3. Management Deci- sion, 41(4): 318-326.