Professor Ammon Salter’s Inaugural Lecture

Innovation Policy Seminar Roundup

Progress on the Open Innovation Research project

Professional Services Workshop review and report

UK~IRC related Events for 2011

18-19 May
EU Pro-INNO Partnering Forum, Cambridge

20 June
The Impact of Science and Technology Research, Cambridge

7-8 July
Open Innovation workshop, Cambridge

16 September
Innovation Policy Challenges in the Regions of Europe, Strathclyde

Please note these events are just a selection and are subject to change. For the most up to date details of events please go to www.ukirc.ac.uk/newsandevents/events/

BIS/UK~IRC Innovation Policy Seminar Roundup

On 1st February 2011 the UK~IRC hosted an Innovation Policy Seminar on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The purpose of the event was for senior officials and Ministers at BIS to engage with leading academics, invited by the UK~IRC to give presentations on the current trends and methodologies in innovation research. BIS are looking to release an Innovation Strategy later in 2011 and these discussions will look to input to that process.

A note from the workshop, summarising the presentations and key discussion points has been prepared by BIS and is available to download called, Innovation Policy Seminar Notes.

Professional Services: Innovations and Practices Workshop

This was an international symposium, co-sponsored by the Advanced Institute of Management (AIM). The two day event took place on 10th-11th March 2011 and included presentations from EU and US scholars. The academic workshop focused on innovation and practices in professional services. The event brought together people working on the development of professional services, particularly but not exclusively in design and engineering. The focus of the event was the intersection between the capabilities view of the firm and institutional theory.

A summary post event report was produced by Dr Cher Li, download the report called UK~IRC and AIM Symposium on Professional Services: Innovations and Practices Report.

We want your feedback

We are keen to analyse the Centre’s impact on behaviour, knowledge and network development and evaluate how the use of UK-IRC materials and participation in UK-IRC activities has influenced behaviour, knowledge or membership of networks. Therefore we will shortly be circulating details of an online questionnaire and we would really appreciate 5 minutes of your time to complete. If you have any queries regarding the questionnaire please contact enquiries@ukirc.ac.uk.

The Pursuit of Innovation - Inaugural Lecture
Professor Ammon Salter

Ammon Salter is Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at Imperial College Business School. He gave his Inaugural Lecture on Thursday 10th March 2011 at Imperial entitled The Pursuit of Innovation. The lecture attracted over 100 people from academia, business and policy communities, to hear Professor Salter discuss the history, development and future of innovation scholarship, as well as focusing on his own area of interest, open innovation.

An introduction was given by Professor David Begg, Principal of Imperial College Business School and Deputy Rector (Research), in which he congratulated Ammon on his achievements. For more information on the lecture and to hear the whole lecture Click here.

Talk Abstract:
The search for the source of innovation is the pursuit of an economic ‘holy grail’ – an eternal fount of valuable new products, processes and services. To find this source, many organisations are moving towards a more interactive, networked and open approach to innovation that creates multiple pathways of exchange between themselves and the external world. These new models have profound implications for how individuals and businesses innovate. For individuals, these new models may shift their role from being the creator of valuable new knowledge, to being a broker, who mobilizes the knowledge of others. For businesses, it requires a re-imagining of the innovation process, developing the ability to orchestrate multiple partners. Yet, such efforts face many challenges – legal, managerial, and personal. Drawing on the lessons of research, this lecture will unpack the changing nature of the search for innovation and its implications for society.

Open Innovation Project Update
New Modes of Innovation: Managerial and Strategic Business Practice and Open Innovation

There are a number of exciting new outputs from the Open Innovation project team at the moment.

In April there was a two day workshop with the theme “Does location matter for open innovation”. The workshop was split with the first day being a Practitioner's Forum which examined the key issues from the perspectives of companies and policymakers and this was followed by networking and dinner. On the Tuesday the Research Forum looked at the key issues for academic researchers. For information regarding this event please see the event page. There has also been a post event summary report produced which can be downloaded.

This is going to be followed by an event on 7-8 July which follows the recently completed survey of Open Innovation practices amongst UK manufacturing and business service firms up to 999 employees. The outline of topics areas for this workshop include: