Creating Innovative Products: The Role of Existing Knowledge

本研究研究组织利用现有知识来促进创新，其长期研究目标是了解现有知识如何提高企业和行业的生存和成功。本研究以组织演化理论为基础。三个顺序的方法-个案研究，纵向档案研究和多行业调查-将被用来检验研究问题。组织合作伙伴是机器人和计算机硬件行业的公司。合作伙伴提供了获取信息和参与成功和不成功的研发项目的人员的途径。这项提议的研究在几个方面都是新颖的。首先，该研究在理论上是独特的，因为它汇集了以前脱节的产品开发和组织演变的文献。这个项目的第二个独特贡献是，它为开发现有知识的价值提供了证据。许多创新研究低估或忽视了这些知识的潜力，但它对产品创新的影响可能是显著的。第三，工程具有全国重要性。它促进了对创新和技术变革的更好理解，这是推动国家增长和竞争力的两大主要力量。

This research studies organizations' exploitation of existing knowledge to promote innovation, with a long-term research goal to understand how existing knowledge can improve the survival and success of firms and industries. Theories on organizational evolution are used as a basis for the study. Three sequential methods-case study, longitudinal archival study and a multi-industry survey-will be used to examine the research questions. The organizational partners are firms in the robotics and computer hardware industries. The partners have provided access to information and people involved in both successful and unsuccessful R&D projects.The proposed research is novel in several ways. First, the study is unique theoretically, because it brings together previously disjoint literatures of product development and organizational evolution. The second distinctive contribution of this project is that it provides evidence for the value of exploiting existing knowledge. Much innovation research underestimates or neglects the potential of such knowledge, yet its impact on product innovation can be significant. Third, the project is important nationally. It promotes a better understanding of innovation and technological change, two main forces driving national growth and competitiveness.