Design and Innovation

How are companies handling creative ideas produced out of their boundaries?

The project develops in partnership with STRATE, School of Design, and in relation with the CPI program.

The newPIC chair jointly develops with STRATE, School of Design, a research project about the handling of creative ideas when produced out of the firms' boundaries. The research project investigates actual students' projects developed in the Paris-based CPI program [Creation of Innovative Products], initiated by STRATE, ESSEC, and Centrale Paris. The project aims at understanding how novel approaches based on design-based conception methods make sense for, and are appropriated by the industry.

CPI projects are appraised as boundary objects with multiple characteristics. The investigation focuses on how individuals in the inddustry mobilize the boundary objects, and on how the boundary objects insert in organizational practices. The project aims a providing a better understanding of creative processes, in an economy where open innovation approaches generalize and disseminate in all sectors.

Open innovation in global firms

The project elaborates on interviews with top level executives positioned in global firms.

Oliver Lamotte, Patrick Lléréna and Valérie Mérindol investigate the role of open innovation in the strategies implemented by global firms, and the variety of associated practices within them. The project elaborates on several industry sectors, and expects to draw its conclusions fromthe comparaison between several sectors. The project mostly focuses on interviews and qualitative analysis.

The first domain investigated relates to cosmetics, and L'OREAL granted an access to several top level executives for interviews. L'OREAL (world leader in cosmetics, and global firm) develops a strategy combining important in-house efforts with open innovation mobilized via multiple partnerships all over the world.

Such a strategy is made mandatory by the variety of knowledge assets necessary for the innovation process. It elaborates on diverse managerial original practices, currently under investigation by our research team.

Selection of creative ideas

This project develops in partnership with the Kitchen Electrics business unit of Groupe SEB.

This project develops in partnership with the Kitchen Electrics business unit of Groupe SEB. It focuses on the research question: 
How is it possible to improve the selection of creative ideas in the innovation process?

The qualitative research was initiated in November 2013 with the investigation of 5 innovative projects. The project has made it possible to identify key drivers both associated with the projects, and with the project teams. This approach aims at identifying key factors to be considered either as risks, or as issues at stake in theprojects as early as possible in the innovation process. These factors also allow for the elaboration of a 'big picture', and for the identification of priorities.

The project also investigates the practices prevailing for the integration of a wide variety of data, information and knowledge during the innovation management process.The project analyses how these practices are actually implemented in a "global" firm proposing new products everywhere in the world.