The aim of this research is to develop an understanding of factors that enable innovation teams to conduct agile innovation work in an industrial context. The background and reason for this research are not only that innovation is necessary for companies that want to stay in business, but also that these companies need to increase the speed of their innovation work to stay competitive. Research has demonstrated that cross-functional (X-functional) innovation teams are fast and agile, and are therefore assumed to be suitable for these activities. Still, there is much knowledge to be gained. Prior research has identified factors that are seen as important from an organizational, team, and individual perspective to enable teams to work with potentially innovative outcomes. However, in cases where teams have been created with the purpose of conducting innovation work, i.e. innovation teams, problems related to e.g. performance and learning have occurred, and the innovation work has stopped shortly after conducted research projects due to the high level of complexity. The research question (RQ) that this thesis explores is the following: “Which innovation enablers are important for innovation teams when conducting agile innovation work in an industrial context?” Based on the RQ, two sub-questions are formulated and operationalized to answer the RQ. Qualitative data have been collected from five innovation teams in two phases. Two innovation teams in two small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were studied in the first phase to clarify the situation for innovation teams before innovation work is begun. In the second phase, which built on the first one, three innovation teams in a large industrial company were studied as they conducted three separate innovation projects. This research revealed five main findings: first, knowledge about important innovation enablers (Enablers) revealed from a literature study; second, the Innovation Team Model (ITM), demonstrating innovation teams before innovation work is begun in relation to the individuals and organization in a holistic way; third, the innovation team creation process (CIT-process), a stepwise process in how to create an innovation team; fourth, the innovation facilitator, who supports and facilitates the innovation team throughout the CIT-process and the innovation projects; and fifth, the Extended Innovation Process (EIP), an extension of the traditional innovation process by a pre-phase, i.e. a Preparation-phase, to gather and prepare the innovation teams for forthcoming work. The findings regarding the importance of the CIT-process, the EIP, and the innovation facilitator were unexpected. The findings formed the Innovation Team Framework (ITF), which represents all of the findings in relation to each other. The EIP is used as the basis for which the other innovation enablers are provided to the innovation teams through an innovation facilitator’s competence throughout the innovation project. The ITF is multidimensional: it could serve as a tool to describe both the simplicity and the complexity when creating an innovation team and forthcoming work and activities. All separate findings within this research contribute to prior research in individual ways, however, the ITF is the main scientific contribution of this study to Innovation management. Practitioners can use the ITF as a complement to already established methodologies for product development or similar; however one should be aware of the limited nature of the data set that served as the basis for analysis and development of the ITF. Further studies regarding the ITF and its detailed models and processes are suggested.

This thesis involves construction of input-output models measuring the economic impact of a farming innovation organisation (The Birchip Cropping Group) on the Victorian regional economy of Buloke Shire. The input-output modeling undertaken is of two forms; the first being a simple naïve top-down model, and the second a more sophisticated hybrid model. The naïve top-down model is based on input-output coefficients drawn from the Australian national input-output tables, and is regarded as naïve because these input-output coefficients are not adjusted to take account of local economic factors. The hybrid model uses the same national input-output coefficients as a base, and then modifies these coefficients to better reflect industrial conditions in the Shire using a location quotients-adjustment technique, as well as using original survey data collected from entities operating in Buloke Shire. One of the aims of the thesis is to determine whether the simpler naïve top-down approach produces results consistent with the theoretically more accurate hybrid methodology, and thus whether the naïve top-down approach represents a reliable method of conducting regional economic impact analysis. That is, can such studies be undertaken accurately using a naïve top down approach, or is it necessary to adopt the more resource intensive methodology of a hybrid model. The results of the analysis suggest construction of a hybrid model is advisable, as generally the naïve top-down approach produces over-estimates of the economic effects of the Birchip Cropping Group. That is, it appears the economic impact multipliers estimated with the naïve top-down model are too large, suggesting the time and effort involved in constructing the hybrid model was worthwhile. Using the hybrid model, the conclusion is that the Birchip Cropping Group has a significant affect on the regional economy of Buloke Shire, with the economic impact being estimated at close to $600,000 in additional output, $61,000 in additional income, and 3.5 additional jobs per year.

This research project was begun during the financial crisis of 2009 with the objective of increasing the competiveness of SMEs’ (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) by developing their innovation-management capabilities. The research presented in this licentiate thesis (thesis) is a part of the project in which newly-formed innovation groups at two SMEs in Eskilstuna, Sweden have been studied before they began innovation work. Prior research has indicated a need to observe processes within on-going innovation projects. My overall hypothesis that reaches beyond this thesis, is that an innovation group that improves its innovation-related knowledge, reduces knowledge gaps and increases innovation-related awareness, generates positive additional values such as motivation or enthusiasm above the results such as patents or project costs that are traditional measurements within innovation projects. The first study in the iterative research process focused on the innovation-related knowledge of newly-formed innovation groups. The results led to further immersed studies, in total five case studies, in which 21 respondents participated. A theoretical framework consisting of theories from Knowledge management and System theory was used to analyze the results and the research question of this licentiate thesis emerged as: “What would a model that describes a newly-formed innovation group’s innovation-related knowledge, knowledge gaps, information flow and awareness look like?” Four sub-questions, one per each aspect of the research question, have been used to analyze prior research, theories and the conducted case studies. A model, Innovation Group Model (IGM), was created according to the research question and goal for this thesis. A one-sentence-explanation could be: “The organization, the innovation group and the individuals must have the opportunity to be motivated to learn innovation management in theory and practice to achieve innovation-readiness and awareness to detect and utilize innovation-related information available within the internal and external information flow.” This thesis contributes to the research area of Innovation and design with knowledge concerning newly-formed innovation groups. Three practical applications of the research results are suggested; (1) IGM can be used in organizations to understand the complex situation when an innovation group is created. (2) IGM can be used when planning for physical or virtual environments in which an innovation group consisting of professionals and customers is intended to develop or generate ideas. (3) IGM can be used when developing innovation-related audits intended to provide a deeper understanding of a respondent’s knowledge. On the basis of the results from this licentiate thesis, I suggest further research according to the overall hypothesis. With IGM as a starting point, one could study the progress of innovation groups and where necessary, provide support in specific areas.