While previous research describes a broad set of factors that discriminate between new product success and failure, both the study findings and the models developed have tended to be very general. This has made it difficult for those involved in NPD to apply the lessons presented - "they are unable to relate them directly to their own situation" (Craig & Hart, 1992: 38). However, the way companies undertake the process activities during the development and launch of a new product has regularly been identified as being critical to the outcome of the NPD project (Booz et al, 1982; Cooper, 1979,1980,1990; Crawford, 1984; Maidique & Zirger, 1984). This research fills a gap in the literature by explicitly focusing on the internal NPD process activities and project organisation within one industry, the Automotive Components Industry. The contribution of the research is to identify the critical success factors for the NPD process within Automotive Component firms, confirm whether different dimensions of success exist for this industry and identify whether the antecedents of successful NPD differ depending on the dimensions of success. A model was developed, which was then tested using a six page postal questionnaire sent out to UK automotive component suppliers. 76 completed questionnaires were collected from 66 firms. After a careful reliability and validity analysis of the measures used in the survey, a multiple regression analysis was undertaken to identify the critical success factors for each of the dimensions of success. The findings from this research validate many ideas presented in the NPD literature. However, what is evident from this research is that new product success dimensions can not be treated together, and that average models can be misleading. This may well have made it difficult for practitioners to relate the findings of previous studies to their specific development situations and could begin to explain why, despite all the research that has been undertaken in this area, failure rates are still so high.

This study explores the potential for British housing developers to use virtual reality (VR) for the design and evaluation of housing developments. Four research questions were formulated after a review of relevant literature on house-building, VR technology and industrial innovation. These cover the context, technical problems and implementation issues related to VR use in the house-building industry. To address these questions the following tasks were undertaken: firstly a survey of the top 100 British housing developers' use of computer-aided design (CAD) and visualisation software and their attitudes to VR; secondly practical trials of PC-based VR systems for the modelling of housing developments; thirdly a case study of VR implementation in a British house-building company; and fourthly a multiple case study of VR use in Japanese house-building companies. The overall research problem is addressed by recourse to the findings of the different research methods. The use of IT and the house-building organisation, similarities and differences between CAD and VR implementation, and comparison between Japanese and British house-builders VR use are discussed. VR in house-building practice and policy is then considered. A number of general conclusions are drawn from this study. First, that PC-based VR is of use to British housing developers for explaining design intent to non-designers, both within and outside to the organisation. Second, that housing developers' use of virtual reality at the early design stages is hampered by the current state of the technology. Third, that organisational transformation is required for housing developers to implement and obtain maximum benefit from virtual reality. Finally future scenarios are explored to provide the house-building industry and policy makers with information on which to base decisions about how to invest or promote investment in virtual reality.

The Department of Business Information Systems at the University of Leipzig conducted a web based study on innovation laboratories worldwide. About 190 innovation laboratory websites could get identified. The innovation laboratories were evaluated and categorized according to the descriptions on the websites.

Since the creation of the internet there has been a development towards a globalized community of people. With the potential for connectivity between people all over the world subcultures are inevitably created. One such subculture is eSports. Over the past decade eSports has seen a steady increase in popularity. Recently, partly as a result of the streaming revolution, this increase has intensified and traditional media look to the internet for inspiration and help on what to do to evolve their business into the future. This paper looks to combine data from interviews conducted with people active and working in the eSports industry with theories and research in innovation, creativity, intelligence gathering and trendspotting with the goal of finding answers to What triggers innovation within the eSports industry? as well as provide suggestions for further research. The researchers suggest that eSports is a novel and unique area with high potential for new scientific developments within innovation and creativity as well as a varied field of other sciences. Culture and Open Innovation are, amongst others, suggested to be important factors for enabling change in the eSports industry.

No description available.

Limitations on the customizability of property rights (the numerus clausus principle) are a puzzling feature of the common law conception of property. An economic rationale, built upon 1) the pivotal role that rules of exclusion play in fostering user innovation, and 2) the role that psychological ownership plays in preventing recontracting around governance rules, is offered to explain the modern persistence of the doctrine. Application of the numerus clausus principle limits the proliferation of governance rules in the economy (governance), replacing them with rules of exclusion (exclusion). Exclusion unifies rights of use and possession in assets, while governance separates, to a greater or lesser degree, possession from use rights. Full user, sale and the policy against restraints on alienation are the paradigmatic examples of exclusion; while governance is exemplified by servitudes and contractually-burdened assets. Exclusion plays a critical role in user innovation because it allows the possessors of assets to unilaterally seek out new uses of those assets. Whenever the law replaces governance with exclusion, user innovation is more likely to occur because the possessors of assets can apply their unique, rival and nontransferable human capital inputs to tangible assets, generating outputs (the new uses) that move resources to their higher-value uses. This is how all innovation, both high-tech and low-tech, occurs. In addition to negatively impacting user innovation, governance hinders recontracting because both possession and legal entitlements (rights of use in an asset) give rise to feelings of psychological ownership, and individuals will not recontract over uses that they feel they already ‘own’. The user innovation theory’s focus on search, innovation and human capital explains why the numerus clausus principle remains most robust in the areas of personal and intellectual property (where users generate a significant amount of innovation), and why it has been somewhat attenuated in the area of real property (where we restrict search in order to facilitate coordination of land uses). It also explains why the law enforces the principle even when the cost of providing notice of governance rules is low.

This dissertation reports a phenomenological investigation of human activity called "innovation", the process by which new technology is created. The dissertation’s central, interlocking, themes are authenticity and different worlds. Its conceptual foundation is Martin Heidegger’s account of being human. It explores the ironic possibility that innovation as it is don’t today (as integrated craft work) can encourage "authentic" human existence. The dissertation synthesises original research on innovators working in a commercial innovation consultancy with Heidegger’s thinking on authenticity, science and technology, and with contemporary innovation scholarship and social studies of science and technology. It uses a Heideggerian phenomenological method and includes two chapters written in an unusual fragmentary style to signify the momentary nature of understanding. Original aspects of the dissertation include (1) an interpretation of Heidegger’s concept of fore-structure as self-understanding in the sense of understanding ones role in how the world is understood and (2) the ironic suggestion that pressure for commercial success has transformed innovation from a scientific process to a techne process and has encouraged authenticity. I suggest the self-understanding of scientists is different from the self-understanding of innovators. I suggest innovators, at least some of the time (in their magic moments), understand themselves as "partners with Being," as modest but important witnesses to what being grants rather than as masters of the "reality" with which they work.

The 1990's in Victoria saw a political and economical shift away from the social justice themes of previous years to an economic rationalist approach to public sector services. Like other countries, educational reform initiatives focused on the introduction of market-oriented commercial practices. These were characterised by increased accountability for expenditure, pressure to supplement publicly funded income with commercial ventures, rationalisation of staff, privatisation of some services and a business-oriented approach to service provision. As part of this shift TAFE Institutes in Victoria were actively encouraged to embark on a business-based, entrepreneurial approach to training delivery in a competitive, user-choice market. This changing external environment is the context for this 'practitioner research' investigative project - the development of a motorsports program as a case study of innovation and entrepreneurship at Wodonga Institute of TAFE. A participant-observer research approach was applied to examine the perceptions of the stakeholders about the development of the program. Data was collected through semi-formal interviews with stakeholders, maintaining a reflective research journal and reviewing related literature. Analysis of the data identified emergent themes (enabling factors and barriers), reflecting at a micro level, similar themes and issues from current research and debate at national level. The themes are similarly reflected in literature on innovation, organisational change and entrepreneurship. The products generated from the investigative research project are:  Capturing Innovation: Entrepreneurial Activity Within a Publicly Funded Educational Organisation, an exegesis examining innovation and entrepreneurship at Wodonga Institute of TAFE through a case study (the motorsports program)  What a Great Idea! Where to From Here?, a set of guidelines for Wodonga Institute of TAFE practitioners about what is required in presenting their ideas to Senior Management (Appendix 1 and Appendix 2), and  a Professional development workshop agenda to support promotion of the guidelines (Appendix 2)  recommendations to Wodonga Institute of TAFE Directorate (Director/CEO and two Deputy Directors) for supporting the development of innovative ideas (Chapter 6). These outcomes aim to increase the success rate of innovative ideas being captured and developed into training programs and products at Wodonga Institute of TAFE.

This study has examined the knowledge required for the publication of an Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (E&BI) focused teaching text. The research design was based on a constructivist, interpretive paradigm, and utilised a qualitative methodology to support the development of a framework and content for a text. Data collection occurred through formal research, discovery and exploration of knowledge rather than verification, and was subject to my interpretation arising from my participation as an academic. The analysis of data required a conceptual framework to be developed consistent with the research paradigm, and be so designed as to provide a way for me through a participatory process, to identify and evaluate knowledge in E&BI and investigate the research questions. The study rationalised that E&BI educational programs must first be consistent with, and reflective of, the mission of the institution providing such programs, and also, must address the learning needs of students. Previous research undertaken for this thesis had clearly identified a strong demand for material on E&BI that combined theory and practice with case studies drawn from real world entrepreneurial practices. The outcome of this study resulted in the design of a formal text that was suitable for use by secondary, community and adult education institutions within Australia, for delivery to both a digital and print audience and representative of international E&BI good practice. The text “Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation” was published in 2005. The published text was designed to provide new entrepreneurs and existing Small to Medium Enterprise owners with a practical guide on how to pursue business success based on established entrepreneurial and enterprise management techniques. The thesis has explicated the scholarly coherence and originality of the published work, and further places the text within a pedagogical framework.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2005