Applying innovation to a process

Professor Fernandes explains the importance of process innovation. He discusses how the development of new products can often depend on the ability of an organisation to develop and successfully implement new processes. This has emerged from the research he and his colleagues have conducted (see Milewski et al. (2015)).

Often the development of a process does not happen in isolation but is the result of a complex network where many processes are linked with each other. As a result open innovation in the case of processes requires a deeper understanding of how different technologies, knowledge, and R&D developed externally can be integrated with those developed internally.

The video explains the key stages of process innovation which are built upon in the next step.

Reflection

As you go through the video consider how the processes explained in the other parts of the week, cooperation with external stakeholders, use of information, and acquisition of external R&D, can be used during the different stages of the introduction of a new process and how this can help the development of a new product.

Reference

Milewski, S., Fernandes, K.J. and Mount, M.P. (2015) ‘Exploring technological process innovation from a lifecycle perspective’, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol.35 (9), pp.1312-1331