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”INNOVATION FACTORS IMPROVED BY ONLINECOLLABORATION”
Håkan Ozan, CSC June 2009
 
 
 
Having ubiquitous access to peers changes the wayinnovation can be utilized. But which factors change and inwhat way are they improved?
The Internet changes the ways we collaborate.
Introduction
Internet and web-based systems havestarted providing traditionalinnovation methods with new means.In our view, the strongest contributorto this phenomenon is the improvedconnectivity between people, what wechoose to call “online collaboration”.In two articles we will first look at thefactors that improveinnovation activities,and in a second articlewe will analyzeconventionalinnovation methodsand look at how theyare improved with new technology.
Electronic collaboration supportscollective creativity
Regardless of method used toimprove an organization’s innovationcapability and outcomes, mostmethods focus on improvingcreativity. Most innovations happen atthe boundaries and specializations of people, so by stimulating creativethinking among diverse competencesthe likeliness of generating moreinnovative and hence successfuloutput increases. Sometimes thesemethods regard tools to improveindividual creativity, but most oftenthey aim at enhancing groupcreativity. The general shortcoming of individual creativity is that it lacks themultifaceted perspectives of others,something that commonlystrengthens the qualityof ideas. An intricacy of group creativity has beenthe difficulty of coordinating the agendasof innovative people. If you want good people ata creative session, you have to get allof them to the same place and at thesame time. With collective creativity ithas also been difficult to ensure thespread and width of relevantcompetence at the moment of theactivity. You want as muchaggregated competence at thesession as possible, but there islimited space in a room, and the morepeople you summon the more difficultthe session will be to coordinate.
”INNOVATION FACTORS IMPROVED BY ONLINECOLLABORATION”
Håkan Ozan, CSC June 2009
 
“The paramountstrength of onlineservices is theirubiquitousaccessibility.”
 
 
The major evolution in innovation isthe accessibility to collaborativeactivities regarding innovation. Eventhough conventional real-timeactivities such as brainstorms andfocus group workshops are difficult tosurpass in the sense of qualitativeoutcome, there are other factorsregarding electronic collaborationthat has the potential of improvinginnovation altogether.
Improvement factors due to onlinecollaboration
In summary, there are four, closelyintertwined, primary factors that areimproved by online collaboration,where the second two are derivedfrom the first two.
1. Time
The paramount strength of onlineservices is their ubiquitousaccessibility. Hence, electroniccollaboration becomes lessconstrained to the specific momentwhere all invited participants havesimultaneous spare time in theiragendas. Instead, with onlinecollaboration, activities can be moreflexible, or even asynchronous, sothat participants can collaborate whenTHEY (individually) have the time todo so. As a consequence, innovationbecomes on-demand, user-driven, andas ubiquitous as the Internet itself.
2. Place
It is both time consuming andproblematic to bring many people tothe same location, especially if theyare geographically dispersed. Thereare two major drawbacks of involvinglong-distance collaborators thatnegatively influence the cost-efficiency of group creativity sessions;1) time-loss due to travel times, 2)increased costs due todisproportionate travel expenses. Onthe other hand, if we choose toreduce travel time-loss and costs byonly inviting nearby innovators, wetake a substantial risk of losingmomentous competence in thecreativity loop and thereby miss outon potent and creative feedback andideas.Reversely, with online collaborationpeople can communicate using thesame medium, regardless of theirphysical location. Hence, accessibilitywill be location neutral andparticipants can be given theopportunity to collaborate at theplace of their own choice.
”INNOVATION FACTORS IMPROVED BY ONLINECOLLABORATION”
Håkan Ozan, CSC June 2009
 
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