Project

Open Network

Within the project Open Network we focus on relations between members of an innovation network and the effect on the ability to innovate. Therefore the objective is to enable especially SME to leverage their network relations to increase their innovativeness. The concept of Open Innovation strengthens the position of informal network relations next to formal relations. Organizations successfully innovate in networks but have not yet fully discovered the potential of their informal network relations. OpenNetwork intends to develop a software-based analysis tool to map the recent existing network structure within and outside of an organization. An evaluation of the found structure leads to recommendations for using these relations to drive the success of an innovation project. This project is conducted in cooperation with the Institute for Management Cybernetics (IfU) and the Chair of Business Information Systems and Electronic Government. This research plan is funded by the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AIF) and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi).