INSPIRE: Expanding Open Innovation Methods to Complex Engineered Systems

该综合NSF支持促进跨学科研究和教育（INSPIRE）项目由工程理事会土木，机械和制造创新（CMMI）部门的系统科学计划，社会，行为和经济科学理事会多学科活动办公室的科学与创新政策科学以及综合活动办公室共同资助。 《美国竞争法》体现了一项总统指令，要求联邦机构通过扩大开放式创新方法的使用，“刺激创新，解决坚韧问题，推进其核心任务”。开放式创新描述了一种通过奖励、挑战和众包等方式征求外部投入的方法。尽管该方法前景广阔，但目前的成功仅限于愿景中隐含的一小部分潜在应用。通过该奖项产生的理论将为将开放方法的实施扩展到日益复杂的问题提供科学基础，通过确定最适合开放方法的问题部分。这对机构如何寻求研究和开发（R D）以及公司如何组织他们的研究企业和激励员工产生了影响。这将为美国的持续竞争力提供一条道路。此外，更多地使用开放式创新明确打破了参与的障碍。它为所有人打开了STEM;该奖项支持基础研究，以产生关于如何通过适当的前期分解使开放式创新方法适用于复杂系统的知识。具体来说，它将解决两个问题：（1）问题分解的程度如何影响a）外部解决者的贡献能力和B）收到的解决方案的质量？以及：（2）组织如何捕捉开放式创新方法的价值并克服采用挑战？解决每个问题都为开放式创新政策的复杂现象建立了必要的科学基础，并需要多学科理论和方法的新整合。关于问题（1），将根据模拟模型和一系列实地实验确定如何最好地分解给定系统以利用外部贡献的方法。理论基础将借鉴组织设计，系统工程，经济学和设计师的动机。问题（2）将通过对美国航天局的深入纵向研究加以解决？正在进行的实验，在其现有的研发过程中部署开放式创新方法。内部研发专家如何应对他们的身份从“问题解决者”到“解决方案寻求者”的变化的实地观察将被合成，以解释如何在不失去内部人才的情况下减轻这种必要的过渡。从理论上讲，问题2挑战了长期以来关于组织创新的最佳方式的假设。这项研究将改变目前的做法，在如何组织创新。

This Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) project is jointly funded by the Systems Science program in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) Division in the Engineering Directorate, by the Science of Science and Innovation Policy in the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate, and by the Office of Integrative Activities. The America COMPETES Act embodies a presidential directive for federal agencies to "spur innovation, solve tough problems, and advance their core missions" through an expanded use of open innovation methods. Open innovation describes an approach that solicits external input through for example, prizes, challenges and crowdsourcing. Despite the enormous promise of the approach, current successes are limited to a small subset of the potential applications implied in the vision. The theory generated through this award will provide the scientific basis for expanding the implementation of open methods to increasingly complex problems, by identifying the parts of problems most amenable to open methods. This has implications for how agencies solicit Research and Development (R&D) and how firms organize their research enterprise and incentivize their employees. It will provide a path to sustained American Competitiveness. In addition, an increased use of open innovation explicitly breaks down barriers to participation. It opens STEM for everyone; creating pathways, particularly for resource-constrained schools, to engage students in real-world problem solving.This award supports fundamental research to generate knowledge about how open innovation methods can be made applicable to complex systems through appropriate upfront decomposition. Specifically it will address two questions: (1) How does the extent of problem decomposition effect a) the ability for external solvers to contribute and b) the quality of solutions received? And: (2) How can organizations capture the value of open innovation methods and overcome adoption challenges? Addressing each question builds a necessary scientific basis for the complex phenomenon of open innovation policy and requires a novel integration of theory and methods from multiple disciplines. With respect to question (1), heuristics for how to best decompose a given system to leverage external contributions will be identified based on a simulation model and a series of field experiments. The theoretical basis will draw on organization design, systems engineering, economics, and the motivations of designers. Question (2) will be addressed through an in-depth longitudinal study of NASA?s ongoing experiment deploying open innovation methods within its existing R&D process. Field observations of how internal R&D experts respond to their changing identity from "problem solver" to "solution seeker" will be synthesized to explain how this necessary transition can be mitigated without losing internal talent. Theoretically, question 2 challenges longstanding assumptions about the optimal way to organize for innovation. This research will transform current practices in terms of how innovation is organized.