This book is based on the findings, issues and questions related to an ongoing decade-old research project named the Innovation Lab (www.innovation-lab.org). The research project focuses on discontinuous innovation in more than thirteen countries, most of which are European, and provides useful insights into its different challenges. It also raises several questions related to the subject, some of which are: how do firms pick up weak signals on emerging — and possibly radically different — innovation? What should firms do when these weak signals hit their “mainstream” process? What are the criteria for allocating resources to a strategic innovation project? What actions should firms take to avoid being left out by the “corporate immune system”? How should firms organize projects that often break existing rules and require new rules to be created? This book attempts to provide answers to the above mentioned questions by gathering information from the research project and also from firms that have tried exploring various ideas, models and insights to tackle discontinuous innovation. Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will be of interest to both practitioners and academics alike.

Creativity and innovation are important drivers of economic welfare and growth in contemporary societies. Collaborating with and learning from users in the early phase of the innovation process has been considered a successful approach to stimulate those creative sparks for organizations. However, the idea of users as innovators has also invoked critical responses especially in the context of innovations that are discontinuous to dominant designs. Martin Hewing and co-author Katharina Hölzle explore the potential that can arise through collaboration with potential users who are not yet users. Those users at the peripheries are perceived to contribute more novel information, by which they better reflect shifts in needs and behavior than current users at the center.

Innovation is the major driving force in organisations today. With the rise of truly global markets and the intensifying competition for customers, employees and other critical resources, the ability to continuously develop successful innovative products, services, processes and strategies is essential. While creativity is the starting point for any kind of innovation, design is the process through which a creative idea or concept is translated into reality. Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity, 2nd Edition brings these three strands together in a discussion built around a collection of up-to-date case studies.

This book examines key issues, challenges, opportunities and trends in innovation processes and supply chain management. It proposes ways for organizations to improve their performance by developing business strategies, establishing business innovation activities, and aligning business and innovation activities among firms. Further, it showcases and analyzes the implementation of inter- and intra-organizational process improvement activities and the implementation of organizational innovation solutions to address new product and process-related collaborative relationships across the supply chain. The book is useful for researchers, academics and professionals, presenting some of the most advanced research, concepts, and case studies on the relationship between innovation and supply chain.

The breadth of this work will allow the reader to acquire a comprehensive and panoramic picture of the nature of innovation within a single handbook.

Across the world, the demands placed on health systems are growing rapidly. Developed countries face the challenge of providing services to an ageing population with changing health needs, while countries with developing health systems must find ways of ensuring their populations are provided with access to healthcare. Innovative thinking is essential to meet these twin challenges, but innovation is both a cause and cure of many struggles in healthcare — we need it, but it is hard to manage and the introduction of new technology can lead to higher costs. Using real-life examples and case studies from around the world, this book introduces the latest thinking on understanding and managing healthcare innovation more effectively. It does this from the perspective of governments responsible for shaping health policy, healthcare organisations providing services and juggling competing demands, and from the perspective of the industries that supply the new drugs, devices and other technologies. Managing Innovation in Healthcare is the perfect accompaniment for MSc, PhD and MBA students on health policy, management and public health courses, as well as managers, consultants and policy makers involved in healthcare services in both the public and private sector.

The volume contains selected, peer reviewed papers from the 2nd International Conference on Innovation Manufacturing and Engineering Management (IMEM2012), December 14-16, 2012, Chongqing, China. Chapter 1: Manufacturing and Engineering Management; Chapter 2: General Mechanical Engineering; Chapter 3: Mechanical Transmission, Vibration and Noise; Chapter 4: Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Chapter 5: Materials and Raw for Manufacturing; Chapter 6: Sensors and Intelligent Instrument; Chapter 7: Detection and Diagnosis; Chapter 8: Control and Information Engineering; Chapter 9: Methods and Algorithms of Research and Designing.