Crisis as a Chance: How did COVID-19 catalyze innovation?

A crisis leads to new developments and solutions. At the same time, innovation projects suffer particularly badly from such a state of emergency. To enable constructive crisis management, it is necessary to understand the dual effect of crises on innovation, because new products, services and processes offer valuable solutions that not only free society from its dilemma but can also lead to long-term positive changes. This paper aims to shed more light on this paradox by focusing on the positive effects that a crisis has on innovation. The approach of Appreciative Inquiry was combined with the narrative structure of Campbell's Hero's Journey in an explorative study to reveal patterns and overarching dimensions of the COVID-19 crisis as a chance for innovation. The results combine into a crisis-innovation spiral which describes a dynamic process of development opening rooms for change opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]