Despite the claim that blockchain will revolutionise business and redefine logistics, existing research so far is limited concerning frameworks that categorise blockchain application potentials and their implications. In particular, academic literature in transport and logistics to date has not sufficiently distinguished between blockchain adoption ('what to adopt') and the identification of the right business opportunity ('where to start'). In response, this paper (1) uses Rogers¿ (2003) 'attributes of innovation framework' to identify potential blockchain applications and (2) presents a framework explicating four transformation phases to subsequently categorise the identified areas of application according to their effects on organisational structures and processes. Using academic and practitioner literature, we classify possible applications for adoption and provide a framework to identify blockchain opportunities in the logistics industry, thereby helping managers to systematically assess where to start building organisational capabilities in order to successfully adopt and deploy blockchain-based technology.

This thesis accomplishes two major goals: 1. it establishes an innovation decision making framework suitable for the public service sector; and 2. it provides in-depth understanding of the established framework through two detailed accounts of innovation in Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation. The major benefit from applying the findings from this research is a disciplined and structured approach to managing innovation. This in turn significantly increases the chance of innovations success. <p>The decision making framework identifies the most important success drivers that influence the innovation process from conceptual ideas to diffusion. The accompanying idea to launch innovation stage gate model is a structured and disciplined approach to managing innovation and allocating resources in a most optimized way. Both the guiding innovation framework and the idea to launch process maintain a strong strategic focus and provide an environment for intelligent risk taking.

This thesis accomplishes two major goals: 1. it establishes an innovation decision making framework suitable for the public service sector; and 2. it provides in-depth understanding of the established framework through two detailed accounts of innovation in Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation. The major benefit from applying the findings from this research is a disciplined and structured approach to managing innovation. This in turn significantly increases the chance of innovations success. <p>The decision making framework identifies the most important success drivers that influence the innovation process from conceptual ideas to diffusion. The accompanying idea to launch innovation stage gate model is a structured and disciplined approach to managing innovation and allocating resources in a most optimized way. Both the guiding innovation framework and the idea to launch process maintain a strong strategic focus and provide an environment for intelligent risk taking.

The topic of this thesis is to analyse the impact of Slovak innovation policy on trade balance. The aim of this thesis is to assess how Slovak Republic uses innovation policy instruments to support innovation and enhance competitiveness. I analyzed basic macroeconomic indicators, indicators of innovation performance comparison through the European Innovation Scoreboard and analysis of the trade balance. I evaluated Slovak innovation policy at the conclusion of the thesis.

abstract: ABSTRACT Historically, Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) guided companies to make better decisions to improve the environmental impacts of their products. However, as new Circular Economy (CE) tools emerge, the usefulness of LCA in assessing linear products grow more and more obsolete. Research Question: How do LCA-based tools account for reuse/multiple life cycles of products verses CE-based tools? The Kaiteki Innovation Framework (KIF) was used to address the question of circularity of two packaging materials using an Environmental LCA to populate its 12 CE dimensions. Any gaps were evaluated with 2 LCA- based and 2 CE-based tools to see which could address the leftover CE dimensions. Results showed that to complete the KIF template, LCA data required one of the LCA-based tools: Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) and both CE-based tools: Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) and Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) to supplement gaps in the KIF. The LCA addressed 5 of the KIF dimensions: Innovation Category Name, Description, GHG Impact, Other Environmental Impacts, and Value Chain Position. 3 analytical tools addressed 5 more:: Effect on Circularity, Social Impacts, Enabling Technologies, Tier 2 and 3 Requirements, and Value Chain Synergies. None of the tools could address the KIF Dimensions: State of Development or Scale Requirements. All in all, the KIF required both LCA-based and CE-based tools to cover social and socio-economic impacts from a cradle-to-cradle perspective with multiple circular loops in mind. These results can help in the research and development of innovative, circular products that can lead to a more environmentally preferred future. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Sustainability 2020

Innovate or die" is one of the mantras of today’s economy. In order to survive, companies are forced to innovate. It is extremely essential to develop innovative ability to constantly cope with rapid changes in different industries such as Telecom, IT and Media. The research aim is to design an innovation framework which helps to assess the innovativeness of a department and thereafter, derive management implications for improving the innovativeness. A single descriptive case study of a high-tech department has been chosen. The triangular research design consisted of literature study, qualitative interviews and online surveys. In the first step, various factors that influence the innovativeness of departments are identified. Consequently, key learnings from other departments within the same corporation will be discussed. The results of survey, propositions and interviews will be compared to identify parameters of the innovation framework. The framework helps to structure valuable insights that link to management implications. The novelty of this paper can be claimed since it is the first research which combines assessing innovativeness via triangulation method and deriving management implication from the results in the field of innovation research. The outcome is an innovation framework with 17 different dimensions that have an influence on innovativeness at the department level. The study demonstrates a deep understanding of the current innovativeness of the investigated department and draws most relevant managerial implications based on other departments’ best practice.

There is a gradually spreading servitization trend that is forcing industrial manufacturing companies acting in the global market to rethink their business. Manufacturing companies that were traditionally perceived as product-centered, are today increasingly influenced by a service-oriented theory, which claims that manufacturing companies are driven to shift their business focus towards a strategy where customer-perceived value is in the spotlight, and where products are bundled with services to offer Product-Service Systems (PSS). The need to integrate several knowledge domains (i.e. product development, service development, recycling, etc.) means that industry companies need to move “downstream” knowledge from the entire lifecycle into the early phases of the PSS design process where critical decisions are made. At the same time, this raises the awareness of, and requirements for, methods and tools that support cross-disciplinary team collaboration in the process of designing these PSS solutions. Value co-creation is one strategy to address customer collaboration to develop PSS in a framework that allows different stakeholders to participate in defining design concepts and finding the optimal combination of hardware and service that supplies the desired value. Value co-creation strategy and global collaborative innovation are essential for manufacturing companies to explore new ways of designing PSS. The thesis summarizes the research performed by the author, as an industrial Ph.D. student and director for system innovation at BIGmind Innovation. This thesis aims to study and explore the motivation for, and challenges of, working with value co-creation for PSS design by global manufacturing companies. Firstly, the empirical research determined that there are different challenges that global manufacturing companies and product development face when designing PSS. The work involves exploring value co-creation via a customer collaborative design platform and experience prototyping for product-service system design. The research shows that there is a lack of knowledge about guidelines and processes for collaboration in value co-creation. The research emphasizes that the PSS design methodologies of today neglect to specify the roles and responsibilities of the actors who co-create PSS offerings, and there is a lack of understanding of the entire process and how it is implemented in industrial practice when developing solutions. Conclusions from this work suggest that government policies can make a fast and major impact on the demand for innovations and PSS development. Additionally, a value co-creation approach promotes large-scale user participation in the early phase of PSS design. To enhance stakeholder participation and gather feedback, experiential prototypes were utilized during the conceptual design phase of the PSS design. To support further development in the area of value co-creation, the Future Innovation Framework (FIF) is proposed as a mechanism to facilitate the adoption and use of value co-creation of PSS design. This thesis discusses the implications, opportunities, and challenges of the FIF for industrial PSS design. The thesis concludes with a discussion on the possibility of using value co-creation for PSS design in different industry domains in the future.

Thesis (MScEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Organisations are continuously striving to attain and maintain a competitive advantage over their peers. The innovation process provides an excellent vehicle for driving this sustained quest for competitiveness, whether on product, process or strategic level. However, in reality the increased availability and adoption of technology force organisations to increase the speed and effectiveness of their innovation processes to match not only those of their competitors, but to deal with the ever-increasing power of the individual – the empowered, consuming, producing “prosumer”. The innovation process itself should therefore undergo dramatic alterations to cope with – and include – these empowered prosumers. It is for this reason that the evolution of the innovation process has undergone changes, and is now moving towards the notion of Open Innovation. Although Open Innovation has been adopted by various organisations, it was found that a wellformulated, standardised set of Open Innovation models is lacking from existing literature. This research bridges the gap between the previous innovation models and the notion of an open approach to internal innovation, to improve the speed and effectiveness of the innovation process. It does this by investigating two primary research fields: innovation and Open Innovation, and then merging the two fields to provide a standardised framework to incorporate Open Innovation in the standard innovation process. The fundamentals of innovation are investigated, whereafter the focus moves to understanding a specific, existing innovation process framework, the Fugle Innovation Process Model. The second field (Open Innovation) is introduced, whereafter various literature sources (real-life examples, case studies and interviews) are used to develop (categorise, define and describe) five standard Open Innovation models. The five developed Open Innovation models are then allocated to the investigated, standard innovation process, according to what is needed in that particular phase of the innovation process and the beneficial offerings of each Open Innovation model. The allocated models therefore provide a potential substitute for the existing internal activity associated with each of the specific phases. The result is an existing innovation process model, populated with implementable Open Innovation models to increase not only the value of the innovation process model, but also the value to organisations who wish to deploy Open Innovation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Maatskappye is voortdurend besig om ’n mededingende voordeel bo hulle mededingers te probeer verkry en te handhaaf. Die innovasieproses bied ’n uitstekende metode om hierdie doel na te streef, hetsy op produk-, proses- of strategiese vlak. Die realiteit is egter dat die tempo waarmee tegnologie aangeneem en aanvaar word, en sodoende vrylik gebruik word, konstant toeneem. Dit dwing maatskappye om die spoed en effektiwiteit van hulle innovasieproses volhoubaar te verbeter, nie net om by te hou by hulle mededingers nie, maar ook om die maatskappy korrek te posisioneer ten opsigte van die moderne, bemagtigde verbruiker. Die innovasieproses moet dus self ’n gedaanteverwisseling ondergaan om ruimte te bied vir die insluiting van hierdie bemagtigde verbruikers. Daarom verander die evolusionêre progressie van die innovasieproses voortdurend en is dit besig om in die rigting van “Oop Innovasie” te beweeg. Alhoewel Oop Innovasie reeds deur verskeie maatskappye toegepas word, is daar gevind dat goed geformuleerde, standaard-, implementeerbare prosesse (of modelle) steeds in die literatuur ontbreek. Hierdie navorsings oorbrug dus die leemte tussen die meer konvensionele “geslote innovasie” en die nuwerwetse neiging na “Oop Innovasie”, om sodoende die spoed en effektiwiteit van die interne innovasieproses te verbeter. Dit word bereik deur die twee kernnavorsingsvelde te ondersoek: innovasie en Oop Innovasie, en dan die twee velde te kombineer om ’n gestandaardiseerde model te skep wat Oop Innovasie by die standaard-innovasieproses insluit. Die metodiek fokus eerstens op die kernaspekte van innovasie om ’n beter begrip van die veld te ontwikkel. Daarna verskuif die klem na die beskrywing van ’n reeds bestaande innovasieprosesmodel, die Fugle-innovasieprosesmodel. Hierna word Oop Innovasie bekend gestel, waarna vyf implementeerbare Oop Innovasie-modelle ontwikkel word aan die hand van verskeie werklike voorbeelde, gevallestudies en onderhoude, om sodoende die modelle te groepeer, te definieer en te beskryf (voordele, nadele en vereistes). Die vyf Oop Innovasie-modelle word hierna toegedeel aan die verskillende fases van die innovasieprosesmodel deur ’n vergelyking te tref tussen die behoeftes van elk van die fases en die proposisie wat elk van die Oop Innovasie-modelle bied. Die resultaat is dus ’n bestaande innovasieprosesmodel waarvan die waarde verhoog is deur die insluiting van implementeerbare Oop Innovasie-modelle. Dit voeg waarde toe vir organisasies wat graag ’n Oop Innovasieproses wil instel.

The European Union (EU) puts more emphasis on innovation as a key means for regaining and maintaining competitiveness, a trait it lags behind in when compared to its main global competitors. It therefore possesses a range of tools designed to support innovative activities of firms and to improve the overall environment of innovation in the European Union and Member States. This thesis outlines/describes the major milestones in the development of innovation policies in the Czech Republic and the EU and focuses on supporting innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic via measures derived from the EU's financial tools. Special emphasis is applied to the Operational Programme Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OPIE) that in the Czech Republic is the main tool used to support innovation in firms. The main problem areas that may pose barriers to active impact for this support are identified on the basis of programme documents, assessment reports, statistical data on the programmes and qualitative information yielded from interviews with firm representatives experienced in this type of support. With regard to the findings of this assessment, the thesis attempts to frame suggestions that can eliminate the identified shortcomings and recommendations that can form the position of...

The thesis devotes to innovative approaches at the elementary school level and is focused on an education method designed to counter prejudice Persona Dolls. The thesis describes theoretical foundations of the above mentioned method and its contribution to the developmentof students'key competences focused on the communicative competence.The theoretical part of the thesis futher discusses the possible uses of the method Persona Dolls in achieving education goals according to the Framework curriculum, especially focusing on cross-sectional topics. The research part is devoted to investigation of teachers'experience with this method. The author finds out how often and in what ways a particular teacher involves the method of Persona Dolls in his teaching. Primarily, the research investigates the rate of interconnection between the content of cross-sectional topics and topics of this method lessons with relation to ways of planning Persona Dolls lesson by individual teachers. A partial research objective is to evaluate the development of students'communicative competence while using Persona Dolls method. KEYWORDS: Innovation, method Persona Dolls, Framework curriculum for elementary education, key competences, student, deliberate work with prejudice