malta, december 2009 1 aleardo furlani iese, master in business administration (mba) (1987), scholar...

Malta, December 20091

Aleardo Furlani

•IESE, Master in Business Administration (MBA) (1987), scholar at John Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University)

•3 years experience in Strategic Consultancy Gemini Consulting (1987-1992)

•Managing Director of Innova SpA since 1993

•President of Invent since 2001, a seed capital company


Innovation and Technology transfer in the practiceHow to formulate strategies for successful technology valorisation for SMEs TT models and casesHow to develop abilities to turn technology into business valueApproach: practical, based on cases, exercises, examples

Objectives of the Workshop


EXPLORA BIOTECH Pioneering Nature

EXPLORA BIOTECH Pioneering Nature

PLANTAROM

TRS

OPT SENSOR

Certified Research Laboratory (MUR)

Research & Development

TechnologyVentures

Innovation Services

IT

IT

IT

IT

US

LXB

FR

IT

IT

IT

IT

IT

IT

TN

ES

Media Pharma

IT


What is innovation?

Any technical improvement to the status quo (Product, Process) but also… Organization: innovation keys (A.Read):

1. Management support for an innovative culture2. Customer/market focus3. Communication/networking4. HR strategies that emphasize innovation5. Team structures7. Leadership, creative development, strategic posture, flexible structures, continuous improvement, and technology adoption.

Innovation - The technical meaning


What are the strategic objectives and goals of innovation?

• Any solution/project/undertaking aimed at increasing value for the business organization

• Example the “BLUE OCEAN” approach from W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne

• The less successful companies take a conventional approach: staying ahead of the competition.

• The high-growth companies seek to make their competitors irrelevant through a strategic logic called value innovation.

Innovation - The strategic meaning


What are the strategic objectives and goals of innovation?/2

You must examine radically what constitutes real value for customers by asking fundamental questions: what value offering need to be introduced or increased to meet customer needs? what value offerings can be reduced or eliminated, because they do not constitute real value for customers

"The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed." – Henry Ford

Innovation - The strategic meaning


Innovation is risky but necessary to improve competitiveness Innovation is not for everyoneInnovation is not necessary linked to TechnologyInnovation requires:

A clear definition of needs and value generated to costumersA sound financial scheme: Innovation is expensiveA network of contacts: Innovation is confrontationA constant knowledge monitoring and up date

Implications


Because the world is changing (fast)

•SUN Microsystems – OpenSolaris.comAn operating system providing a platform for building and running applications. The OpenSolaris code base is distributed under open source license. OpenSolaris community represents developers, administrators, instructors and students around the world. Join in the latest effort to add packages to network-based package management system

•Nanotechnologies and Biotech prospects Zyvez: tools, instrumentation, and applications to serve the semiconductor and advanced research markets. Founded in 1997, Zyvex was the first molecular nanotechnology company.

Innovation - Why ?


Innovation - Why ?

Because Business has two functions and two functions only: Marketing and Innovation

•Olive Oil

•Mineral Water


All around the world, in every country, the focus of competitive success is local

Innovation - Why ?


Because the old tricks don’t work anymore

Innovation - Why ?

•NUOVA FIMA•DERBY


It’s a big mistake saying that change must originate from the top

Innovation - Why ?

SILMET: how to deal with the internal resistance to change


The Patenting processThe Patent granting explosionThe Patent litigation explosionPatenting and Innovation

Cases:

Innovation – Why patenting?


Gillette ,48 Patents in a RazorValue?Five times as many razor blades

as anyone else

Innovation - Why Patenting?


Segnali

Oggettività

CodificaStrutturazione

& definizione

Concettualizzazione&

generalizzazione

ProblemSolving

ApplicazioneCodificaStrutturazione

& definizione


generalizzazione

ProblemSolving

Applicazione

DatiDati InformazioneInformazione ConoscenzaConoscenza Azione Saggezza

Soggettività

Segnali

Oggettività

CodificaStrutturazione

& definizione


generalizzazione

ProblemSolving

ApplicazioneCodificaStrutturazione

& definizione


generalizzazione

ProblemSolving

Applicazione

DatiDati InformazioneInformazione ConoscenzaConoscenza Azione Saggezza

Soggettività

Signals

Objectivity

Codification & & ProblemSolving

CoStructuring

& Definition

Conceptualisation&

Generalisation

ProblemSolving

Application

DatiData InformazioneInformation ConoscenzaKnow-how Action Wisdom

Subjectivity

•(

,

•Brainstorming

••

Creativity

• Individual( lateral thought, Analogic)

• Group

•• Network

Innovation as process to consolidate know-how

Researcher approach


Scientific Method is necessaryWisdom is non codified, non protectableSubjectivity is a consequence of human experienceCreativity is a frame of mind

Innovation as a process


Breakthrough

technologies

Incremental technologies

Adjustment technologies

Investment in new technologies

Imp

act

on

econ

om

ic r

esu

lt

Technologies anticipating needs on the market, ex.:-New product functions -New business lines or new business models -Suppression of 1 or more productive factors

Strategic objective: leadership

Technologies running after the competition, ex.:-New products-TTM reduction

Strategic objective: fast follower

Technologies to comply with market and legislative standards, ex.:- New plants - Certification and quality control- Costs reduction

Strategic objective: survival

Which innovative technologies?


Legislative standard are a source of innovation (and a push too…)

Suppliers, clients, competitors , social trends, scientific discoveries, are all sources of hints to generate innovation

SMEs* are for Adjustment and Incremental technologies: low risk and followers

*SME definition: less than 250 employees, less than 40m Euro capital/ turnover, less than 25% participation from Large Companies

Which Innovative Technologies?


Time

Which SMES do innovate?

“Running” technology

“Emerging”technology

“Future”technology”

Interval to innovate (early adopter)

Interval to innovate(follower)

Pote

nti

al Im

pact

on

econ

om

ic r

esu

lt


PROBLEM #1Putting Innovation to Work


How to solve a problem?

Problem: take out the water without touching the glass

Innovation as problem solving for the development of new products

Putting innovation to work



Solution: 44 known processes of moving a liquid to be exploited

Acoustic Cavitation, Acoustic Vibrations, Archimedes’ Principle, Bernoulli’s Theorem, Boiling, Brush Constructions, Capillary Condensation, Capillary Evaporation, Capillary Pressure, Coanda Effect, Condensation, Coulomb’s Law, Deformation, Electrocapillary Effect, Electroosmosis, Electrophoresis, Electrostatic Induction, Ellipse, Evaporation, Ferromagnetism, Forced Oscillations, Funnel Effect, Gravity, Inertia, Ionic Exchange, Jet Flow, Lorentz Force, Magnetostriction, Mechanocaloric Effect, Osmosis, Pascal Law, Resonance, Shock Wave, Spiral, Super Thermal Conductivity, Superfluidity, Surface Tension, Thermal Expansion, Thermocapillary Effect, Thermomechanical Effect, Ultrasonic Capillary Effect, Ultrasonic Vibrations, Use of foam, Wetting.




Productive know-how...


According to the followed approach, different modalities can prevalently emerge :

learning by doing (Prevalently Market Pull)

Productive know how (acquisition of technological capacity through adjustments and secondary engineering actions)

know why (development of an autonomous R&D activity) (Prevalently Technology Push)

ProductionRe-engineering process

Basic Research

Applied Research/ Innovation

Product Development

Marketing

”Upstream” approachor Technology Push

”Downstream” approach or Market Pull

Innovation positioning with respect to the Client business



Problem : “I want a stronger table, but lighter”

You are not the first to face such a “conflict of interest”...




Solution : “Contradiction matrix strenght/weight”

Innovation as problem solving method



Stimulate creativity and the capacity to react to problems

1. Stimulate SMES to innovate radically and periodically

2. Adopt creativity support tools




How to improve a current product?


Look at evolution trends



SME Innovation Strategy Case 1: the growth challenge

Business has two functions, and two functions only: Marketing and Innovation

•GEOX•ROSSETTI

GEOX breathes

A certain world walks in Rossetti


How to improve a product?

Other creativity tools:1 - Attributes list2 – Forced relationships3 – Morphological analysis




“How to do a better screw-driver?”

1. Attributes list

Making it more resistent. How? Making it more insulated. How?Making it more ergonomic. How?Making it more adaptable. How?




PROBLEM #2

The match between Technology and Strategy


SME Strategy Formulation process/1

• SMES Challenges: P&P Innovation but, mostly, Organisational Innovation.

– Empirical study carried out in 80 SMEs-Lazio(2006).

– 20% of SMEs stress Organisational Innovation in 4 cases: Leadership, Company/Technology acquisition, real-time processes, organisation structure design.

– Learning points: Technology vs Organisational Innovation, resilience culture (capability to react), bridging organization innovation and market impact

– Applications of science, technology and design in new products, services and processes, new business practices.


Case 2 : the SME Strategy Formulation process/2

SMES Challenges: Process and Product Innovation but, mostly, Organisational Innovation.Rome, Via CondottiFall 2006


Case: example of organizational innovation

Standardized merchandising technique– optimal localization

PDV

Central stock Major Acquisitions’ warehouse

GPSMerchandising Technique of restocking


What is an industrial cluster?

Geographical concentration of enterprises producing

similar and closely related products in a small area (e.g., assemblers and part- suppliers).

- Type 1 - Cluster that characterized by the dominance of SMEs

- Type 2 - Pyramidal type in which there are one assembler, many sub-contractors, and so many sub-contractors (e.g., Toyota)



• Geographical concentration of related companies• Dynamic industrial clusters are engines of value

creation• Cluster firms have higher value creation• Cluster firms have higher growth• Cluster firms have higher productivity• Cluster firms have higher salaries



Clustering is the key to successful industrial development because of:

a) Information spillovers (typically imitation)b) Specialization and division of labor

among enterprises(low transaction costs due to proximity of transacting partners)

c) Development of skilled labor (usually through poaching)


What advantages do companies have of belonging to an international cluster?

• Better access to competent people and innovative ideas

• Better access to specialized suppliers and demanding customers

• Better access to frontier research and development

• Better access to venture capital and competent investors

• Lower transaction costs of doing business


Because you are not too small to do it.

SME Innovation Strategy

Titanium Golfing Sunglasses

These advanced unisex sunglasses weigh just 8g. Brown shatter-proof and scratch-resistant lenses offer 100% UVA, B and C-protection. Incorporating “light Stabilising Technology” specially developed for golfers to enhance vision in frequently changing light intensity.


A great deal of the formal co-operation between SMEs is likely to be in the form of networks (a new SMEs competence) International competition drives companies to concentrate on core competencies. Large companies outsource all other activities to SMEs which tend to networking to respond to increasing demand.Increased growth in networks as a result of an increasingly knowledge-based economy (Collective Innovation Projects in France) .Renewed focus to de-internalisation, where non-core activities are placed outside the enterprise itself.

The SME Networking


External knowledge and competencies are involved in competitiveness building (Source: Fraunhofer Institute)

Poor Performer

Basic Performer

Professional Per-former

Out Performer

External knowledge and external contacts are used inferiorly.

Contacts to external institutions (Partners, Universities, Re-search institutes) ex-ist, but are not ac-tively pursued for knowledge transfer. Retentions against external knowledge exist (NIH Syndrome), sporadical use of ex-ternal knowledge

External contacts (Partners, Universi-ties, Research insti-tutes) are being used proactively, external knowledge is being integrated in internal projects, company is open for cooperation.

Company is building networks on a sys-tematic level, contacts are actively searched for, with the aim to integrate ex-ternal knowledge well directed into internal projects, Partners, Universities and Re-search institutes are utilized proactively as sources of information and competencies.

Possible first action recommendations:

Installation of and participation in networks, installation of research cooperation and strategic alliances Integration of external institutions in internal work processes Communities of Practice – encourage employees to participate in relevant communities and cooperation

SMEs Networking (the new competence)


The innovation system driven by consumer market are based on product differentiation: price differences between quality and common. Craft skills, design and knowledge of local market are still the core of the craft based product innovations: food, textiles, leather, wood and metal products.

Craft-based regions share embedded skills and market understanding. Industrial districts in Denmark, Northern Italy, Spain and Portugal: product innovations, low innovation cost.

The European industrial districts/1


Industrial districts: good at low-tech new product creation, based on craft skills.Tacit knowledge, limited ability in new science-based consumer market products, strong interaction with large corporations both downstream and upstream.

ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKET ECONOMIES

(US, UK)

ORGANIZED MARKET ECONOMIES( Japan, Germany Sweden)

ARTISAN (Northern Italy Denmark),

Strengths

Commercialization of science based . Product innovations Process innovations

Good at complex problem solving. Incremental innovation and knowledge diffusion

Efficient in creating new, design based products for the market

Weaknesses

Low-trust relations undermine long-term knowledge. learning

Commercialization of science based knowledge . Consumer market design

Limited ability to access R&D knowledge and do technologically deeper innovations

The European industrial districts/2


MARKET

Technology Intermediary

The role of Technology Intermediary

Tech. Audits/Watch

Venture Capital

Partner Search

Project Generation

Exploitation / IPR

BPR

“Revolution Services”

Identification of needs

Capitalisation

Partnership

Development

Partnership

Process change

Organisational change

RESEARCH

Technology Push

Market Pull

malta, december 2009 1 aleardo furlani iese, master in business administration (mba) (1987), scholar...

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