While search for new ideas through research will be highly specialised and aim at digging deeper
into a narrow field, interactive learning will feed upon short-circuits across fields. The combination
of digging deeper and bringing together knowledge harvested at distant fields might be typical for
The systematic search for new ideas is certainly part of the innovation system. The organisations
engaged in producing new ideas may belong to the knowledge infrastructure and be more or less
distant (in social and technical terms) from those firms that use the ideas to design innovations and
they may be more or less creative. These characteristics have to do with the form of organisation,
The two modes of production of ideas may co-exist and co-evolve within the same firm and
probably the most creative firms succeed in retaining both modes. Highly specialised researchers
may be taken out of their standard function and work in different environments than laboratories for
a period and practical inventors and workers may be given formal training so that they can
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Diplomacy and design
In most cases there is a long way to go from idea to prototype and from prototype to normal scale
production. Many things can go wrong in this process and the key to success is as already
mentioned well-functioning project groups and project leaders.
During the design process there is a definite need to communicate among agents with diverse
background. The role of the project group is to bring in experiences from production and sales
divisions and to let those be reflected in the new design. The role of the project group leader is to
orchestrate this process and through diplomacy to mobilise the necessary resources for bringing the
project forward.
The most important activities in the design process are communication, co-operation and
interactive learning. Individuals belonging to different communities, speaking different languages
have to communicate and share their experiences and contribute to a common project. To coach this
process is a difficult task. A common corporate culture/vision may help if people within the
organisation are really committed to it.
Another important activity in the design process leading to the proto-type may be research. The
design of a drug involves research all along the design process including systematic tests on animals
and patients. Designing a new machine may involve elements of research to solve specific
problems. Again this will involve communication with experts from other parts of the organisation.
Inter-organisational interaction with early users
As pointed out above the early users who are customers to the innovating firm play an important
role in the innovation system. They act as external test laboratories. Their experiences with the new
product/process will involve discovering and sometimes solving problems. Building channels for
feed-back of experiences to the innovating firm is important for the success of the innovation.
Having several early users operating under different circumstances is especially useful since it gives
a more diverse source of learning for the innovating firm. This is one reason why vertical
integration might not take place in spite of small numbers, uncertainty and information
impactedness. The benefits from diverse sources of learning over an organised market may make
‘outsourcing’ preferable to ‘insourcing’.
I have written in some detail about the different activities that take place across an organised market
(Lundvall 1985; Christensen and Lundvall 2004). It involves monitoring, co-operation and
exchange of experiences. Different media may be used – ICT-based communication, flying
prototypes and exchange of personnel. Basically the central activity is communication across
organisational borders using either direct human to human contact or computers as medium.
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Summary on the activities at the core
The central activities in the core of the innovation system and in the process from idea, to design
and to user feed-back basically involves two types of activities. One is human interaction and the
other is systematic search (research). The first involves the creation of new ideas and design as well
as different forms of learning based upon doing, using, and interacting. The second also involves
the creation (or locating and finding) of new ideas and design as well as solving specific problems.
An alternative to Edquists 10 activities could in this light result in what is presented in Box A:
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