Inaugural lecture: Net Works! Innovation and relationships

Date and time: 11 March 2008, 4.15 pm
Location: Academy Building, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Prof. Roger Leenders, professor of Networks in Market and Product Innovation at the Faculty of Economics and Business, will use his inaugural lecture Net Works! Innovation and relationships to discuss the interaction between various parties in an innovation process.  

Most innovation processes are complex cooperation agreements between individuals, teams, companies, local governments and other parties. Such cooperation is needed to bring together the knowledge, expertise, ideas and other resources needed to successfully innovate. However, it also means that the success of an innovation process is heavily dependent on the success of the cooperation between the parties involved.

Leenders explains the interaction between the various actors in an innovation process in his lecture. He will investigate questions such as how the creativity of an innovation team is influenced by the communication among the members of the team, how much of the knowledge needed do the right actors have at the right time, and how do they get it, and how can the innovativeness of a company be stimulated by making use of knowledge and expertise elsewhere in the market.

Leenders will pay extensive attention to the use of ‘social network analysis’ when studying questions such as these. By modelling interaction as networks and then studying them with modern network analysis tools it is possible to thoroughly analyse the interaction process and to understand it. Leenders will also discuss some results of recent research and round off with a plan for future research.

See also: [04-04-07] Leenders Professor of Networks in Market and Product Innovation