Understanding Innovation Networks and Their Roles

Introduction

Over recent decades, rapid changes in products, markets, and the economy have given rise to a more nuanced (rather than entirely new) innovation management method: the innovation network. When an organization understands the requirements of an innovation network, the roles it can draw from its ecosystem, and how to integrate those roles, it can achieve sustainable innovation and greater commercial returns than isolated efforts.

Roles that Compose an Innovation Network

The four professional roles that make up an innovation network are:

1] Inventor

2] Transformer

3] Financier

4] Broker

Figure 1

Innovation Ecosystem

Each organization is part of a broader business ecosystem composed of interrelated participants. Continually emerging new technologies and the innovations they enable strengthen potential relationships among these participants, transforming them into an innovation ecosystem that offers multiple pathways for each role, ideally re‑configuring the network to develop talent and maximize value realization time.

Figure 2

Connecting the Network

For an innovation network to thrive, participants must share more than just capabilities; they must share goals, motivations, and culture.

1] Align Values

Political values – Potential conflicts between participants’ other products may prevent close cooperation, affecting commercial value for both sides.

Motivational values – Relationships evolve as participants’ motivations change over time.

Economic factors – Economic imbalances can hinder continued participation and cause significant losses when partnerships end.

Contractual terms – Clear expectations, documented service levels, and escalation paths prevent blame and ensure technical accountability.

Process considerations – Each capability requires defined inputs, rules for managing activities, and defined outputs.

2] Understand Organizational Capabilities

Organizations face the challenge of realistically identifying internal skills and capabilities versus those needed from external sources. Part of this process is determining integration and negotiation points between capabilities to enable effective contracting and management.

Figure 3

Mapping Metrics to Roles to Improve Innovation Network Delivery

An innovation network requires tight coordination among four roles and the innovation itself. Since each role and capability may be filled by an internal or external entity, any underperformance can delay or derail a project. By applying appropriate metrics to each role and capability, you can assess overall network performance and identify improvement opportunities, using key indicators to guide participant behavior when designing your innovation plan, processes, and network.

Source: http://jiagoushi.pro/innovation-network

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