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Book Towards Environmental Innovation Systems

Download or read book Towards Environmental Innovation Systems written by K. Matthias Weber and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-02-11 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a dialog among worldwide experts across disciplines concerning theoretical frameworks and practical experiences to guide research and policy "towards environmental innovation systems". The contributors explore new directions of research at the border of two research traditions: systems of innovation and environmental innovations. The text examines the four main components of environmental innovation systems: conceptual foundations, empirical experiences, strategic approaches, and experiences with policy instruments.

Book Toward Responsible Innovation  Responsibility And Philosophy For A Humanely Sustainable Future

Download or read book Toward Responsible Innovation Responsibility And Philosophy For A Humanely Sustainable Future written by Xavier Pavie and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2021-11-08 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For fifty years, innovations have taken on a new dimension: the Internet, DNA sequencing, genomic manipulations, advances in transhumanism, nanotechnologies ... and much more. These recent innovations are not without addressing new issues whose consequences are as important as irreversible. The innovator, of whom Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are emblematic contemporary figures, appears as a personality as brilliant as he is destructive, who aspires to change the world regardless of the violence that may ensue. With this then, emerges the need to establish responsible innovation, in which the innovator should be accountable for his actions and review his position as a hero. To establish this new ethic, philosophy is a necessary recourse, since it questions, among other things, the self-control of the Stoics, the prudence of Aristotle, respect of Kant, the will power of Nietzsche and the power of Foucault.

Book Innovation and Its Enemies

Download or read book Innovation and Its Enemies written by Calestous Juma and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-06 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is a curious situation that technologies we now take for granted have, when first introduced, so often stoked public controversy and concern for public welfare. At the root of this tension is the perception that the benefits of new technologies will accrue only to small sections of society, while the risks will be more widely distributed. Drawing from nearly 600 years of technology history, Calestous Juma identifies the tension between the need for innovation and the pressure to maintain continuity, social order, and stability as one of today's biggest policy challenges. He reveals the extent to which modern technological controversies grow out of distrust in public and private institutions and shows how new technologies emerge, take root, and create new institutional ecologies that favor their establishment in the marketplace. Innovation and Its Enemies calls upon public leaders to work with scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to manage technological change and expand public engagement on scientific and technological matters.

Book Innovation for Sustainability

Download or read book Innovation for Sustainability written by Nancy Bocken and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-02-22 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this edited book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and challenges related to innovation for sustainability. Combining work from both emerging and established scholars in different academic fields, this book provides an integrated understanding of the topic from four perspectives. First, the big picture: frameworks, types, and drivers; second, strategy and leadership; third, measurement and assessment and fourth, tools, methods and technologies. Chapter 11 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. The editors donate their remuneration for this book to conservation organisation the WWF.

Book Innovation and the Creative Process

Download or read book Innovation and the Creative Process written by Lars Fuglsang and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After phenomenology and feminism the concept of care is taken forward to conceive innovation as an interactive process requiring diversity and collectivity. A fresh look at innovation is grounded in the long standing experience of the Roskilde group and it takes the readers into an intriguing voyage in practical creativity. Silvia Gherardi, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Italy It is not an easy task to be innovative in the large and increasing field of innovation studies. We should therefore thank and welcome the Roskilde School for achieving such a difficult task. This book provides a new and promising vision of innovation which is metaphorically called innovation with care . This new theory draws upon a sociological perspective in order to open up the black box of the organization. It brings interacting people and social process to the forefront of innovation phenomena. Innovation and the Creative Process explores innovation with care, illustrating that it is possible to integrate in the innovation theory a wide range of specialized and non-specialized actors, activities and forms of business and social innovations. Following the Schumpeterian tradition, it provides a more comprehensive notion of innovation and enlarges the scope of innovation theory. This book represents a fruitful approach to innovation which academics, private and public practitioners should consider with much care. Faïz Gallouj, University of Lille, France This book explores new frameworks and methods of understanding and analysing innovation. These are set against a backdrop of innovation with care , which is seen as a phenomenon that takes place among many actors with different perspectives, ideas and cultures that must be carefully woven together in order to achieve the benefits of innovation The new perspectives presented by the contributors will be important in encouraging successful innovation across sectors, organizations and people. They examine how people and organizations deal with the tensions and paradoxes in the innovative process between creativity and innovation, variation and selection, and sense and strategy-making. The book also includes a sociological approach to innovation as a complement to economic perspectives in order to better understand how people can benefit from innovation in a number of interesting private and public cases. To benefit from innovation, it concludes, people depend less on formal roles and formal organization than on a caring approach that enables them to deal with and interpret evolutions across people, organizations and sectors. This highly original, innovative book will provide fascinating reading for a diverse audience, including academics, researchers, policymakers and managers with an interest in innovation, organization studies, institutional theory and, more generally, business and management.

Book National Systems of Innovation

Download or read book National Systems of Innovation written by Bengt-Åke Lundvall and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'National Systems of Innovation' presents a new perspective on the dynamics of the national and the global economy. Its starting point is that the international competitiveness of nations is founded on innovation. Which role do different parts of the national system play in determining the long-term dynamics of the economy? What is happening to the coherence of national systems of innovation in an era characterised by far-reaching internationalisation and globalisation? These and other issues are addressed in this volume. Available for the first time in paperback, the book is an invaluable resource for scholars and policy-makers.

Book Innovate the Future

Download or read book Innovate the Future written by David Croslin and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2010-04-26 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Proven, Step-by-Step Method for Consistently Creating Revolutionary Products, Services, and Processes When it comes to entering, creating, or dominating markets, disruptive innovation is the most powerful tool you have. Unfortunately, most companies find disruptive innovation difficult to achieve and virtually impossible to replicate. In Innovate the Future, renowned technology innovator David Croslin helps you solve this problem once and for all. Croslin introduces a proven process for consistently creating inventions, technologies, and methods that are truly transformative. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience leading innovation in organizations ranging from start-ups to the Fortune® 20, Croslin identifies structured steps for optimizing the entire innovation lifecycle. Then, using real examples and case studies, he shows how to apply these steps to Innovate from Scratch: Identify a new market, and invent and deliver a successful product Innovate to Dominate: Maintain a position of market dominance Innovate to Conquer: Replace a current leader Innovate to Disrupt: Use new inventions to power your way into emerging markets Innovate the Future is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to drive more strategic value and profit from innovation: CxOs, strategists, entrepreneurs, R&D leaders, product and line of business leaders, and investors alike.

Book 99X100 99 Ways Towards Innovation

Download or read book 99X100 99 Ways Towards Innovation written by ENG.Seena Zarie and published by The Writer Operation. This book was released on with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By looking at famous companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple, you will find that innovation is a top priority for them. They know that without innovation, they will not be able to survive in this competitive world —————————————- One of the common factors among innovative organizations is the supportive environment towards innovation and innovators ————————————— When the government or organization motivate innovators, we can expect lot of suggestions and innovations

Book Towards Innovative Freight and Logistics

Download or read book Towards Innovative Freight and Logistics written by Corinne Blanquart and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-06-15 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freight transport faces a dual challenge: it must satisfy the demands of globalized trade and meet environmental requirements. In this context, innovation is a crucial topic to enable the transition from the current transportation and logistics system to a sustainable system. This book provides an overview of the latest technological innovations in Europe and worldwide, based on ICT and new vehicle concepts, for all modes and all scales (urban, regional, national or international). The authors consider innovation supply, the process of innovation and innovative business models. Some perspectives and solutions are proposed on the deployment of innovation, specifically concerning the transformation of the organization of the system and the relationships between industry, governmental players, operators and users.

Book Employee Driven Innovation

Download or read book Employee Driven Innovation written by Steen Høyrup and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents research in Employee-Driven Innovation, an emergent field of study that meets the demand for exploiting new innovative potentials in organizations. There is a growing interest in creating new knowledge in innovation, emphasizing human resources and social processes. The authors intend to take the global lead in research on these areas.

Book Towards Innovative Transport Systems

Download or read book Towards Innovative Transport Systems written by Stephan Müller and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-08-24 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book supports companies in the transport sector, political decision-makers, transport engineers, planners and scientists doing fundamental research who are confronted by growing challenges in transport. These challenges arise from a number of powerful socio-technical trends, including: digitalisation, globalisation, urbanisation, and the requirements of individual users and the increased need to reduce environmental impact of transport. Providing the innovations required to cope with these challenges is not a simple matter. Towards Innovative Transport Systems structures and compiles theoretical foundations from evolutionary economics, the sociology of technology and innovation research in a way that provides a broad understanding of innovation processes without demanding prior knowledge. Using the Concept of Transport System Evolution (CTSE), it explains in depth the economics of innovation in the transport sector, thus contextualising processes, drivers and obstacles at work in current practice; among such processes are the changeover to electric mobility, the realization of autonomous cars, the revival of railway by innovations and dealing with disruptive innovations in transport. The CTSE is an approach to making concrete the multi-level perspective for the transport sector introduced by Frank Geels. On the basis of the CTSE, the author proposes principles for a novel innovation policy in transport that can serve the reader as a guide when making strategic decisions.

Book Multi dimensional Approaches Towards New Technology

Download or read book Multi dimensional Approaches Towards New Technology written by Ashish Bharadwaj and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-23 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access edited book captures the complexities and conflicts arising at the interface of intellectual property rights (IPR) and competition law. To do so, it discusses four specific themes: (a) policies governing functioning of standard setting organizations (SSOs), transparency and incentivising future innovation; (b) issue of royalties for standard essential patents (SEPs) and related disputes; (c) due process principles, procedural fairness and best practices in competition law; and (d) coherence of patent policies and consonance with competition law to support innovation in new technologies. Many countries have formulated policies and re-oriented their economies to foster technological innovation as it is seen as a major source of economic growth. At the same time, there have been tensions between patent laws and competition laws, despite the fact that both are intended to enhance consumer welfare. In this regard, licensing of SEPs has been debated extensively, although in most instances, innovators and implementers successfully negotiate licensing of SEPs. However, there have been instances where disagreements on royalty base and royalty rates, terms of licensing, bundling of patents in licenses, pooling of licenses have arisen, and this has resulted in a surge of litigation in various jurisdictions and also drawn the attention of competition/anti-trust regulators. Further, a lingering lack of consensus among scholars, industry experts and regulators regarding solutions and techniques that are apposite in these matters across jurisdictions has added to the confusion. This book looks at the processes adopted by the competition/anti-trust regulators to apply the principles of due process and procedural fairness in investigating abuse of dominance cases against innovators.

Book Educational Research and Innovation Schooling Redesigned Towards Innovative Learning Systems

Download or read book Educational Research and Innovation Schooling Redesigned Towards Innovative Learning Systems written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does redesigning schools and schooling through innovation mean in practice? How might it be brought about? These questions have inspired an influential international reflection on “Innovative Learning Environments” (ILE) led by the OECD.

Book Towards AI Aided Invention and Innovation

Download or read book Towards AI Aided Invention and Innovation written by Denis Cavallucci and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-08-29 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International TRIZ Future Conference on Towards AI-Aided Invention and Innovation, TFC 2023, which was held in Offenburg, Germany, during September 12–14, 2023. The event was sponsored by IFIP WG 5.4. The 43 full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 80 submissions. The papers are divided into the following topical sections: AI and TRIZ; sustainable development; general vision of TRIZ; TRIZ impact in society; and TRIZ case studies.

Book Towards Success in a Competitive Market  The Importance of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Download or read book Towards Success in a Competitive Market The Importance of Entrepreneurship and Innovation written by Marcin Gębarowski and published by Cognitione Foundation for the Dissemination of Knowledge and Science. This book was released on 2019 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nine papers published in this issue of the Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation point to various problems which are important for effective management in a turbulent and dynamically changing contemporary market. The authors of the articles come from universities in the Czech Republic, Italy, the Republic of Moldova, Nigeria, Poland, Taiwan and Ukraine. The scientists present current and original views on issues related to: research & development expenditure and innovation levels in EU countries; the role of innovative entrepreneurship in economic development; the competitiveness of small innovative companies; social networking in family businesses; the connections between socioemotional wealth and competitive advantage of family firms; agrirural entrepreneurial alertness; the assessment of human resources` interactions; the impact of seasonality on employment in tourism; and socio-economic clients’ requirements for food packaging. However, regardless of the subject matter, all the papers indicate an organizational framework and solutions for achieving success in a competitive market. The first article, by Radka MacGregor Pelikánová, addresses R&D expenditure and innovations in the EU, which are the foundations for competitiveness in contemporary economies. The author focuses on the following three essential questions: How much is spent on R&D? How many patentable inventions are filed and succeed, and how many other ideas lead to innovations? Is it possible to imply a potential relationship and what are the trends? The described study entailed secondary data while exploring hard data sources, such as Eurostat and the European Patent Office databases, official or legislative documents, such as Europe 2020, and the academic literature. Furthermore, the author used direct observations, field search and her own experience, gained over 20 years by participating in many patent applications and other instruments protecting future innovations. Answering the questions, it was found that: the 3% threshold will not be met in the larger part of the EU, the number of patent applications and granted patents keep growing along with digitalization, and the possibility of a relationship between these factors and trends exists but is not conclusive or dramatically strong. The research challenge, taken by Radka MacGregor Pelikánová, requires an appreciation that, as she notes, “one of the limitations of the study was caused by the intangible, ephemeral and hardly predictable nature of innovations, and the impossibility to collect and mathematically process all the involved phenomena.” The second paper, written by Rodica Crudu, refers to the importance of entrepreneurship in driving innovation, economic growth and welfare, as well as job creation, and draws attention to the fact that innovation is seen as a driving force in the economic development of nations. Since innovative entrepreneurship has begun to be considered a key factor in modern economic development, finding a prominent place at the core of the European Union’s development strategy – Europe 2020, the author aims to analyse the role of innovative entrepreneurship in the economic development of EU member states by testing a model that captures new or young innovative firms as manifestations of innovative entrepreneurship along with determinants of economic growth rates. The key findings of the paper show that innovative entrepreneurs are more often present in countries with higher development levels and higher incomes, being motivated by the improvement opportunity they see in becoming entrepreneurs. However, a higher degree of entrepreneurship, especially in the creation of new firms, does not substantially contribute to accelerated economic development. This is explained by the variation in the motivation (necessity or improvement-oriented) of entrepreneurs across EU countries. In developed countries, entrepreneurs are most likely to be of Schumpeterian type, while in developing countries most of them are shopkeepers. The presented paper has significant practical implications for decision and policy-making authorities in terms of the possible directions of innovative entrepreneurship policy development, including friendlier and more efficient policies aimed at the creation of new firms and the development of SME-supporting tools. Edward Stawasz, whose paper is based on the results of conducted research, carried out an analysis and evaluation of the importance of selected determinants of competitiveness of small innovative enterprises operating in international markets and using business advice services. The first part of this article is a comprehensive literature review concerning the identification of determinants of competitiveness of small enterprises and the characteristics of motives for using, as well as the areas and effects of using, business advice. The second part of the article presents an analysis of the results of a survey conducted among 67 small, innovative enterprises operating in international markets and at the same time using business advice services, carried out with the use of the CATI method. The conducted analysis has shown that the use of business advice extends the scope of determinants of competitiveness of enterprises operating in international markets. Business advice can be considered an effective factor in improving the competitiveness of enterprises already characterized by high competitiveness, which means that a high level of competitiveness favors the effectiveness of the use of business advice. An important conclusion reached by the author is the existence of a positive relationship between business advice and enterprises’ capacity to absorb business knowledge. Therefore, improving the competitiveness of enterprises requires using business advice and improving the business knowledge absorptive capacity. The focus of the next article, written by Kenneth Chukwujioke Agbim, is the conceptual considerations regarding social networking and family businesses, presented in a review of the contribution of social networking to the financial and non-financial performance of family businesses. Based on an analysis of 55 peer-reviewed, published journal articles, the author identified the most frequently used social networking platforms, the measures of financial performance, the measures and proxies of non-financial performance, and the differences between the financial and non-financial performance. The study proposes the use of both financial and non-financial measures in assessing the performance of family businesses due to their complementary roles. Therefore, the presented research contributes to the family business literature by highlighting the importance of combining financial and non-financial measures in assessing family business performance, indicating that due to the specificity of a family business, its performance should be assessed in such a joint manner. The research topic of the fifth article, by Katarzyna Bratnicka-Myśliwiec and Martyna Wronka-Pośpiech, is socioemotional wealth in the context of competitive advantages of family businesses. These authors argue that socioemotional wealth may trigger or limit family firms’ strategic initiatives that ultimately shape their competitive advantage. The basic assumption is that, unlike non-family firms, family businesses have some unique qualities that should be considered. The research was conducted in almost two hundred firms through a telephone survey. The obtained results reveal that, indeed, socioemotional wealth and competitive advantage are partially associated, and socioemotional wealth can be regarded as an important strategic antecedent to firm performance. Therefore, the first main theoretical implication is the emphasis on the importance of socioemotional wealth as a strategic resource. The second main conclusion is the recommendation that socioemotional wealth is a relevant determinant of competitive advantage. Family businesses rely on more complex social dynamics than the dynamics of a pure market, where the informal sphere is critical for current functioning. Moreover, the connections between family business attributes and firm performance are by no means easy to understand. Consequently, this paper makes a significant contribution to the scientific literature. In the next article Chaoyun Liang presents research on agrirural entrepreneurship and the results of a series of three studies conducted to develop a measure of entrepreneurial alertness in the agrirural environment which is empirically valid, easy to use, and can analyze how the personality traits of agrirural entrepreneurs affect their entrepreneurial alertness. The results indicate that both extraversion and openness affect all of the dimensions of entrepreneurial alertness, whereas conscientiousness only influences scanning and searching, and agreeableness has an impact solely on evaluation and judgment. The presented findings also demonstrate the interactive relationships between extraversion and openness for all of the dimensions of entrepreneurial alertness. The research provides a new understanding of how agrirural entrepreneurial alertness can be assessed more practically and how personality traits can help predict various dimensions of agrirural entrepreneurial alertness. The author states that, due to the fact that agriculture remains the basis of socioeconomic development, governments worldwide are actively formulating relevant policies to aid in the restructuring and upscaling of their agricultural industries. Thus, providing essential guidance in agricultural entrepreneurship for diversifying rural regions should be their central concern. Therefore, recognizing and interpreting opportunities are the most crucial abilities that should be fostered in developing agrirural entrepreneurship. The seventh paper is devoted to the subject of human resources, in particular interactions. The author of this text is Anna Pereverzieva, who indicates that there is a need to develop a methodological approach to the assessment of united communities` human resources` level of interactions. Hence, in light of the gap in the scientific literature, she tries to determine such an approach. The author’s work is based on the example of a united community and a structural unit and, in addition, considers two determinants of human resources` interactions – the group size and the nature of labor. As a tool of the empirical study, the author used expert assessment and the application of certain mathematical dependencies that allowed the coefficient of interactions to be determined. It transpired that small groups with intellectual labor have higher levels of interactions than large groups with a predominance of manual labor. It is worth noting that the proposition of a methodical approach is universal and might be used by both communities and business entities. Moreover, an additional advantage of the study is the proposal of a 4-stage procedure for assessing the level of human resources` interactions. The eighth paper, written by Aleksandra Grobelna and Katarzyna Skrzeszewska, connects tourism seasonality with employment in the travel and tourism sector. The issue, raised by these authors, is a current and important topic, since nowadays seasonality plays a decisive role in creating demand in the tourist industry. The problem is investigated from the perspective of tourism and hospitality students of higher educational institutions located in the northern part of Poland (Southern Baltic Sea Region). The main point of the authors’ interest was the students’ attitudes towards seasonality in tourism employment and its impact on students’ tourism employment aspirations. As a research method, a direct questionnaire was used and the obtained data were analyzed statistically. According to one of the conclusions, more students agree that seasonality contributes positively rather than negatively to tourism employment. The authors indicate that the depicted results of the research study can be of substantial importance to managers in the industry, which suffers from low employment status and experiences chronic shortages of skilled and well-qualified employees. The last article by Agnieszka Cholewa-Wójcik, Agnieszka Kawecka, Carlo Ingrao and Valentina Siracusa presents interesting results of research on the requirements for packaging to answer contemporary consumers’ needs. The study represents a holistic approach to the topic. The authors conducted a survey among clients of shopping malls in the Małopolska region of Poland. Analysis of the obtained data indicated the following order of priority of consumers’ needs: ensuring safety, meeting legal regulations, wants related to lifestyle, improving consumers’ life quality through added value, and protection of the environment. Furthermore, the team of authors proposed the model packaging. According to them, modern food packaging should be characterized by health (safety), simplicity (reduction, convenience), identity (belonging), aesthetics (design), and meaning (sustainability, intelligence). These conclusions have a managerial dimension because they might be valuable premises for developing packaging and introducing innovative solutions in this area. The paper confirms that both the design of food packaging systems and the production of such kinds of packaging should be developed after giving due consideration not only to the technical requirements but also to the socio-economic and the environmental ones. As the editors of this issue, we would like to thank all the authors for their contribution, and for sharing their own theoretical considerations and the results of empirical research. We are convinced that the presented studies constitute a valuable contribution to management sciences in the area of effective organizational management in a turbulent environment. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their efforts in reviewing the articles for this issue, as well as their valuable comments and suggestions that have influenced its final shape. We hope that the articles presented in this issue will interest readers, scientists and researchers from around the world, in addition to inspiring them to conduct further research on the topics discussed.

Book Green Sustainability  Towards Innovative Digital Transformation

Download or read book Green Sustainability Towards Innovative Digital Transformation written by Dalia Magdi and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is a collection of best selected research papers presented at the Third World Conference on Internet of Things: Applications & Future (ITAF 2023) organized by Global Knowledge Research Foundation in Cairo during February 4–5, 2023. It includes innovative works from researchers, leading innovators, business executives, and industry professionals to examine the latest advances and applications for commercial and industrial end users across sectors within the emerging Internet of things ecosphere. It shares state-of-the-art as well as emerging topics related to Internet of things such as big data research, emerging services and analytics, Internet of things (IoT) fundamentals, electronic computation and analysis, big data for multi-discipline services, security, privacy and trust, IoT technologies, and open and cloud technologies.

Book Winning Innovation

Download or read book Winning Innovation written by Norbert Majerus and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-04-27 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Davanti Nella Gara, an Italian bicycle company, makes the best racing bikes in the world. But after decades of market dominance, competitors have brought the industry leader back to the Peloton. The company’s second-generation owner longs for retirement, but a tired product lineup is pushing down profits and the firm’s market value will never support his ride into the sunset. The flawed but beloved owner seeks out the counsel of an old friend and successful businessman, who steers him toward a fast and remarkable transformation, one fueled by a relentless focus on innovation excellence. An engaging business novel, Winning Innovation dives into the art and science of innovation; the thrills of the European bike-racing circuit; the vibrant landscape and cuisine of Italy; and a cast of intriguing characters who work to put Davanti on the road to sustained prosperity. The company’s leader isn’t afraid to learn and apply new ideas to reenergize his company, and finds he cares more about his employees than he could ever imagine. A young innovator struggles to see a product idea to fruition as well as rise into management — and he falls in love along the way. A newly promoted R&D director brings teamwork and transparency to product development and aligns the entire company around innovation. With the help of a seasoned and persistent change agent, in just a year, Davanti deploys a well-defined and -sequenced transformation — a complete and seamless process that can be replicated and scaled by most companies. The leader engages associates in pursuit of the right vision and strategy, candidly supporting them all as they unleash their creative sparks, work through personality conflicts, and take on real-world challenges faced by companies every day. They learn and apply traditional R&D principles in new ways (e.g., cost of delay, sprints, fail fast, late start) and successfully leverage emerging innovation and change-management principles (e.g., idea-creation events, knowledge management, workplace humility, visual management, lean project management). And an aligned, three-phase innovation process — from idea creation to technology development and product design — provides the innovation infrastructure the company needs for revenue creation and success beyond racing bikes. From a top-heavy organization dominated by power struggles and finger-pointing emerges a new Davanti Nella Gara — a flattened, innovative company with: Clear vision and endorsed goals and strategy Speed, responsiveness, and agility Widespread, successful creativity Collaboration and teamwork Superior risk management Respect for people Unquestionable ethics Changed leadership and associate behaviors Project management excellence Rapid problem-solving and experimentation Not just the story of an R&D transformation, Winning Innovation illustrates a companywide transformation of a magnitude that only superior R&D can make possible. It may well be the first book to chronologically introduce the principles for a complete innovation excellence transformation along with the parallel people transformation that is necessary for real change to occur. The end result for Davanti Nella Gara is a dominant new culture based on respect and humility, highly efficient processes that will deliver a wealth of innovations, sales, and profits for many years to come, and an owner who leaves a bright future for the people and company he’s known and loved his entire life.