Grants to fund the project „Recognizing and Preventing Not-Invented-Here"
A grant proposal written by Professor Frank Piller and Dr. David Antons to fund the project „Recognizing and Preventing Not-Invented-Here: A Systematic Approach Towards Understanding and Overcoming the Not-Invented-Here Syndrome in Research and Development“ has been approved by the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations, short AiF. Over the next three years, research into the causes of and possible countermeasures for the so-called “Not-Invented-Here” (NIH) syndrome will be conducted.
The NIH syndrome constitutes a negative attitude towards external knowledge frequently leading to a universal rejection of external ideas and technologies in the innovation process. This rejection equally occurs when the use of external knowledge would be associated with clear economic benefits. Two research questions are at the centre of this research project:
- How can organisations recognize the extent to which their own R&D employees are either open towards external knowledge or affected by the NIH syndrome?
- What mechanisms can be employed to prevent the NIH syndrome and its negative consequences?