Projects

Innovation Management Training and Consultancy Project

This research project is part of contiuing research collaboration with Dr Prem Samaranayake in the School of Business, Western Sydney University and was initiated for supporting the industry with (i) an evaluation framework for assessing innovation process through idea conceptualisation to commercialisation of products/services, and (ii) a state-of-the-art Innovation Management toolkit integrated with Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS) methodology.

The first phase of Innovation Management Training and Consultancy Project forms the basis for identifying critical innovation management needs of stakeholders of incubation programs and subsequently developing a planning guide with a toolkit for new product development and commercialisation of the innovation. The proposed research project, through its proposed training and consultancy program will contribute to the broader research program that the Australian Government recently initiated for driving greater research-industry collaboration. Furthermore, Innovation Management Training and Consultancy Project proposed by this research will be an enabler to the participants and stakeholders in the Australian Government’s National Innovation & Science Agenda (NISA), especially in one of the initiatives being rolled out: ‘The Incubator Support Programme’.

Aims of the first phase of the project are to (i) conduct a survey of Incubatees involved in new product development process, associated with an incubation program in Australia, (ii) analyse data collected, using appropriate statistical methods, with a view to identifying their critical innovation management needs, and (iii) provide a basis for developing a planning guide with a toolkit for new product development and commercialisation of the innovation that will significantly enhance the capabilities of incubatees to manage their innovation efficiently and effectively by increasing the know-how of best practices and tools to drive innovation. The first phase of the project is funded by the School of Business, Western Sydney University. The first phase of the research project is currently being continued with additional data collection through an online survey and is expcted to complete with data analysis and reporting, including a journal paper draft by end of this year.

The results of the first phase of the project using online survey will be used to develop a state of the art Innovation Management toolkit integrated with Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS) methodology. Main aims of the second stage of the research project, mainly carried out by Dr S Lobo Consultancy services are to:

· Design and implement a focused workshop environment—complete with interactive lectures, group exercises, dynamic simulations and individualized mentoring on real, problematic data sets and projects combined with ongoing support to innovation teams through consultancy. The tool kit would provide practical easy-to-use manuals, templates, exercises and statistical analysis methods using Minitab and Excel software.

· Provide a planning guide for new product development through commercialisation of the innovation that will maximise the probability of meeting the business objectives for any new product development and commercialisation initiative. The toolkit is intended to train and guide innovation practitioners. It also provides innovation managers with an assessment tool to evaluate the progress of development activities in support of an initiative.

· Provide ongoing consultancy and support services to incubatees.

· Conduct parallel case studies during and post implementation of innovation management training and consultancy of incubatees, in order to verify success of their commercialisation programs.

Significance and potential impact

The Australian government has recently announced a National Innovation & Science Agenda (NISA). One of the initiatives being rolled out is ‘The Incubator Support Programme’.

The $8 million Incubator Support Programme will grow the next generation of innovative and high performing Australian businesses. Business incubators support the development of start-ups by providing them with advisory and administrative support services.

The proposed research project, through its proposed training and consultancy program will contribute to the broader research program that Australian Government recently initiated, for driving greater research-industry collaboration by introducing new research block grant funding arrangements for universities that will give equal emphasis to success in industry and other end-user engagement, and to research quality. Thus, the research project is aligned with the government’s new arrangements that is designed to provide universities with more flexibility than ever to support its researchers to deliver world-class outcomes in both pure and applied research, and develop the next generation of research talent.

The Innovation Management Training and Consultancy Program proposed by this research project will be an enabler to the participants and stakeholders in the Australian Government’s National Innovation & Science Agenda (NISA), especially in one of the initiatives being rolled namely ‘The Incubator Support Programme’.

The industry-engaged research project essentially aims at providing a planning guide for new product development and commercialisation of the innovation that will maximise the chances of meeting the business objectives for any new product development initiative. The toolkit is intended to train and guide innovation practitioners in incubators. It also provides innovation managers with an assessment tool to evaluate the progress of development activities in support of an initiative.

The Innovation Management Training and Consultancy Services will also significantly enhance the capabilities of Incubatees to manage their innovation efficiently, effectively by increasing the know-how of best practices and tools to put in place to drive innovation.

This will increase the probability of commercialisation success cost effectively. The Innovation Management Training and Consultancy Services will be achieved through state-of-the-art Innovation Management toolkit integrated with Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS) methodology.

Publication and expected outcomes:

Publications:

Lobo, S., & Samaranayake, P. (2020). An innovation management assessment framework. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27(5), pp. 1633-1656.

Expected outcomes:

The second phase of the project through the development and delivery of state of the art Innovation Management toolkit integrated with Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS) methodology will enhance the capabilities of Incubatees to manage their innovation efficiently, effectively by increasing the probability of commercialisation success cost effectively.

Planning for adopting the proposed Innovation Management Training and Consultancy services to other similar incubation programs in Australia is proposed as the next step of this research project, with details outlined below.

Phase Academic Research Training and Consultancy

1 Survey Study Survey Study

2 Incubatee Model Study Development of Workshop Material

by Dr S Lobo (Consultancy Services)

Module 1: Pre-Incubation

Module 2: During Incubation

Module 3: Post-Incubation

3 Training Case Study Conduct Training Workshops with Incubatees

by Dr S Lobo (Consulting Services)

4 Case Studies on Incubatees Ongoing Consultancy Services to Incubatees by

Dr S Lobo (Consulting Services)

References:

Australian Government (2019), “Entrepreneurs' Programme”, available at https://www.business.gov.au/assistance/entrepreneurs-programme (accessed 6 January 2019).

Chowdhury, S. (2002), Design for Six Sigma: the Revolutionary process for achieving extraordinary profits 2002, Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade Pub. xvii.

Cooper, R. G. (1990), ‘Stage-gate systems: a new tool for managing new products’, Business Horizons, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 44-54.

Cooper, R. G., and Edgett, S. J. (2012), “Best practices in the idea-to-launch process and its governance”, Research-Technology Management, Vol. 55, No. 2, pp. 43-54.

Cudney, E. A., and Furterer, S. L. (2012), Design for six sigma in product and service development: Applications and case studies, CRC Press.

Deák, C., and Podmetina, D. (2013), “Learning from Best practices of Business incubation of high-tech start-ups”, in The XXIV ISPIM Conference – Innovating in Global Markets:Challenges for Sustainable Growth in Helsinki, Finland on 16-19 June 2013, pp. 1-23.