Purpose: Currently, there is no outlined process for the front end of innovation suited for digital innovation. Thus, incumbent manufacturers face challenges when striving to execute their digital innovation initiatives and tend to invest in unfeasible initiatives. Therefore, the purpose of this master thesis is to bridge identified research gaps in order to enhance digital innovation through creating a front-end innovation process. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose of this master thesis, an abductive, qualitative research approach has been adopted. We build on a case study of an incumbent manufacturer within the aerospace industry. Specifically, we leverage 20 explorative and semi-structured interviews with various roles involved in digital innovation initiatives. To derive findings through the interviews in combination with previous research, a thematic analysis was conducted. Findings: Through this master thesis, three key barriers to digital innovation in incumbent manufacturers were identified; difficulties in securing appropriate data, constrained digital development resources, and uncertainties in the value digital innovation may generate. Furthermore, a front-end innovation process with three phases has been constructed in order for firms to better handle the early phases of digital innovation. The phases included in the process are; digital idea generation, digital feasibility recognition, and evaluation. Theoretical contributions: This study extends the current research within front end innovation and digital innovation and thus bridges the gap among these research fields. Specifically, we add to the literature by illustrating principles and key activities for a revised front end process for digital innovation and provide novel decision criteria and principles for evaluating and prioritizing digital innovation initiatives. Managerial implications: The managerial implication of this study is that we provide practical guidelines for leveraging digital innovations in early stages of development. Firms tend to invest in ideas with low feasibility, however, our process framework enables decision–makers to minimize uncertainty and streamline their front-end innovation process for digital innovation. The framework further forces decision-makers to understand the foremost determinants of feasibility and further embrace decreased investment costs in failing innovation. Limitations and future research: To make the process framework as intuitive and easy-to-follow as possible, we sought to simplify the process by reducing the number of steps required. Furthermore, we sought to simplify any technical aspects that have been brought up during interviews with certain respondents, to further make the process framework easy to follow for any manager working within innovation. For the future, we hope other researchers further validate our process framework within other industries, especially within industries driven by digitalization. Moreover, future research pinpointing who is responsible for making decisions throughout the process framework would be of relevance to further extend the knowledge regarding front end innovation for digital innovation. / Syfte: För närvarande finns det ingen process för att hantera de tidiga stadierna av digital innovation. Följaktligen uppstår utmaningar då bolag ska exekvera digital innovation vilket ofta leder till att bolag investerar resurser i digitala initiativ som inte är genomförbara. Därav ämnar denna studie överbrygga gapet mellan digital innovation och innovation i tidiga skeden i syfte att förbättra digital innovation. Metod: För att uppfylla syftet med studien har en abduktiv och kvalitativ forskningsansats använts. Mer specifikt bygger studien på 20 explorativa och semi-strukturerade intervjuer med respondenter som har erfarenhet inom digital innovation. Vidare analyserades insamlad data genom en tematisk analys och genom det kunde slutsatser dras. Resultat: Studien resulterade i tre barriärer för digital innovation; svårigheter i att anskaffa lämplig data, begränsade resurser för digital innovation och svårigheter i att fastställa värdet av digital innovation. Vidare skapades ett processramverk innehållande tre faser som ska möjliggöra att bolag på ett mer adekvat sätt kan hantera digital innovation. De tre faserna är digital idégenerering, digital genomförbarhet och utvärdering. Teoretiskt bidrag: Studien adderar till nuvarande forskning inom digital innovation och innovation i tidiga faser genom att överbrygga gapet mellan de olika områdena. Mer specifikt bidrar vi genom att illustrera principer och nyckelaktiviteter för digital innovation i tidiga skeden och genom att fastställa beslutskriterier och principer för att prioritera och utvärdera digital innovation. Praktiskt bidrag: Studiens praktiska bidrag är vägledning för att utveckla digital innovation i tidiga skeden. Bolag tenderar att investera i digital innovation som inte är möjlig att genomföra och därav möjliggör vårt processramverk att beslutsfattare kan minska osäkerheten och effektivisera deras process för digital innovation. Vidare skapar ramverket en förståelse för de viktigaste aspekterna av genomförbarhet kopplat till digital innovation, vilket möjliggör att bolag inte behöver investera resurser i digital innovation som inte är genomförbar. Begränsningar och vidare forskning: För att öka användbarheten av vårt processramverk, förenklade och reducerade vi antalet steg i ramverket. I syfte att öka läsbarheten av rapporten har vi även förenklat tekniska aspekter, då rapporten ska kunna förstås av alla anställda som arbetar med digital innovation, utan krav på teknisk kunnighet. För att vidareutveckla vårt ramverk och den teori vi skapat inom FEI, önskar vi som ett nästa steg att ramverket kan valideras i andra industrier och kontexter, särskilt i de industrier som huvudsakligen är drivna av digitalisering. Bortsett från det önskar vi att framtida forskning kommer utreda vidare kring ansvarighet inom beslutsfattande om digital innovation, exempelvis vem som bör ansvara för att gå igenom ramverket, för att ytterligare skapa förståelse över hur bolag bör arbeta med tidiga skeden av digital innovation.

Object of study: The innovation “Digital health care center” from a multi-level stakeholder’s perspective. Problem: A new technology era has opened up for new kind of innovations. Digital health care centers are a service that recently has been introduced on the Swedish market, which needs further investigation. To be able to better understand, explain and predict future behavior of an innovation the innovation could be theoretical conceptualized and classified. In the specific area of health care, new innovation should preferable be investigated in from a multilevel perspective, including different stakeholders opinions. One if the stakeholders are the customers. If new innovative products and services want to be successful, it required consumers to adopt the product or service, but relatively few studies have focused on the adoption of technology services among customers. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the innovation “digital health care center” in Sweden. Research question: How can the innovation “digital health care center” be described through a stakeholder perspective? Method: The empirical data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews and a structured quantitative questionnaire. Conclusions: The innovation digital health care center can from a multi-level perspective be described as an innovation that contributes and have an impact on the market and the healthcare industry in many ways. The innovation could be described as a complement to traditional health care. The innovation has influences from different theoretical classes of innovation which means that the innovation cannot be categorized in a specific class. The innovation can be considered successful because it facilitates for the patient.. According to the stakeholder group potential patients, a majority of the respondents thinks that increased availability and time-efficiency would be facilitating factors and reasons for using the service. The innovation is described by the various stakeholders as contributing to a better society. The care becomes more productive, cost effective, more available, and in the broader perspective, the innovation contributes to increased digitalization of the healthcare sector as a whole. There are many new possible fields of application which in the healthcare industry which could develop the innovation further. Strengths and opportunities with the innovation can be considering outweighing weaknesses with the innovation and potential threats of the innovation.