1. Realising and Increasing
Impact & Engagement
through, creativity,
interdisciplinarity and co-
creation at the front end of
innovation
Dr Lorraine Warren
22 January, 2013
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

2. My Context
 Director, Centre for Strategic Innovation,
www.soton.ac.uk/csi (SXSC2)
 PI, INSPIRE, www.soton.ac.uk/inspire , Strategic
Partnership for Knowledge Exchange and Research on
Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation North West
Pakistan
 PI, INTERREG Business Schools project, conference in
Deauville, November 6, 7, 8

3. Commercialisation zone
„Valley of Death‟ (Branscomb and
Auerswald, 2001; Markham, 2002; Merrifield, 1995).
Fuzzy Front
End
(Reinertsen, 1994, 1999;
Smith and Reinertsen,
1991)
and the front end of
innovation (Khurana and
Rosenthal, 1997, 1998;
Koen et al.).

4. Conceptualisations of this space
 Classic Stage gate/ project management
 Markham et al, 2010 – role theory
 Griffin and Hauser, 1993 - the voice of the customer
 von Hippel,1986, 2005 - lead user, democratising
 Chesbrough, 2003 - open innovation
 Phaal et al 2004 - technology roadmapping
 SCOT/ANT/STS
 Agency/structure, institutional entreprenuership, complexity

5. Formal and/or informal?
 Stage –gate (Cooper, 1997; Khurana and Rosenthal, 1997).
 Dynamic Interplay between roles (Markham et al, 2010)
 FFE cannot be accommodated by formal processes
(Nobelius and Trygg, 2002; Reid and de Brentani, 2004).
 During incubation – tangible and intangible processes
(Warren, Patton & Bream, 2009; Patton, Warren & Bream, 2009)
 Interdisciplinary teams and creativity (Barr et al, 2009;
Boocock , Frank and Warren, 2009)
 Identity and careers (Warren, 2009)

6. Policy Agenda
 Policy reports Hauser, 2010; Dyson, 2010; Wilson, 2012
 Science Enterprise Challenge, HEIF -> incubators
 Technology Strategy Board: Knowledge Transfer
Partnerships; Knowledge Transfer Networks;Technology
Innovation Centres (Catapult Centres) -> collaboration,
networks
 Fraunhofer (Germany), ITRI (Taiwan), bridging initiatives
(Cambridge-MIT; SETSquared – San Diego; Gatsby
Innovation Fund/ NCSU)
 university<->business <-> community ecosystem
 Networked character, local <-> global

7. Progress?
 Hauser, Dyson – still a long way to go to remain
competitive in global economy
 Yes but…. Spin out rates remain low, and many patents
are not developed further (although that is just a subset
of activity)
 Rarely straightforward (Markham et al, 2010; Barr et al,
2009; Boocock, Frank and Warren, 2009) and context
dependent 9Casper, 2007)
 High uncertainty within those so-important innovation
networks which contain multiple factors and
stakeholders, including social, political, technological,
legislative and cultural transitions as well as material
and financial resource limitations, particularly at the FFE

8. Advent of the Digital Economy
 Widespread access to broadband technologies
 Smartphones and tablets
 Social media
 Increasing availability of government datasets to the
public
 Falling prices for some technology areas expanding
creative potential
 Increased popularity of self-organising formats, with the
potential for unexpected serendipitous outcomes (long
standing hacker culture).

9. New opportunity at FFE?
 firstly, digitisation has lowered entry barriers to new forms of
technological innovation: not just computer scientists
 secondly,
 traditional incubation pathways have been supplemented by free-
form crowd-driven patterns of activity, often linked to social media,
such as crowd funding (de Buysere et al, 2012)
 or the intricate multidisciplinary „barcamp‟, or „unconference‟ style
events, which combine creative artists of all kinds and computer
scientists
 amplify energy and result in the emergence of multiple value
outcomes, including new creative projects, new educational
opportunities (formal and informal), as well as ideas for
commercialisation (Kemp et al, 2012).
 The contribution of the creative industries in this milieu is well
recognised (Hearn et al, 2007) in stimulating innovation overall, as
new business models are co-created and shaped.
 Not just „apps‟, but, Mo-Cap for example;
http://www.animazoo.com/

10. Bridging the formal and the
informal? SXSC2
 http://digitaleconomy.soton.ac.uk/events/creative-digifest-
sxsc-2
 Digital humanities, Winchester School of Art, Computer
Science (Web Observatory, Web Science and the Open Data
Institute)
 Mix of speakers, demos and a strong social media presence
to energise the event, the ongoing network and commence
„stories‟ or narratives about potential commercialisation
outcomes
 200 attendees
 http://digitaleconomy.soton.ac.uk/blog/1656
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLknR-nLycY

11. Some informal feedback
(gathered by DE team)
 Cathy Pope (Web Science and Work Futures):
 Just wanted to feedback that the event last week is still getting really positive feedback around the
place. I managed to catch up with the storify and was following the tweets etc - looks like it was fab
and generated a real buzz. I am sure it was a huge amount of work so wanted to say well done to
you for delivering this. bravo!
 Abigail Harrison (Digital Surrey):
 Just wanted to send you an email to thank you so much for inviting me to the amazing event
yesterday. What a triumph! You must have been so pleased with how it went, the dialogue in the
room(s) as well as on-line. The organisation, support, facilities as well as thinkers / specialists from
the University were all at their shiny best. It was just a pleasure to be part of. Thank you. If there is
anything that I can help you or the department with in the future, please do not hesitate to ask - I
really was inspired... and there is some amazing working being done there.
 Kieron O‟Hara (Web Obervatory):
 Thanks Lisa, it was a pleasure. I enjoyed the panel afterwards - proper punch-ups which was good.
 Toby Beresford (leaderboarded.com):
 Well done on the event. I thought its greatest strength was the fairly combative questions and topics.
It was vigorous and helpful. The white heat will produce more refined propositions! Too often events
are samey and anodyne.
 Julius Duncan:
 Congratulations on an inspiring event yesterday. All your hard work really paid off :)

12. Outcome: a new platform for rapid knowledge
exchange between academia and business (below compiled
by DE team and categorised by LW)
 General
 Enhanced visibility for all concerned
 overlaps and reinforcement between initiatives e.g. CSI, SUSHI, sotonDH,
cybersecurity, imaging USRG, web science, digital champions, CIP modules
 Case for research strengthened (NEMODE attended)
 Potential for support for Roberts/PGR context through discussion of pipeline
opportunities
 Connects formal, informal
 Learning and employability outcomes
 80 Managing Innovation students did case on event, some followed virtually,
some followed up as dissertation topic in discussions - potential of graduate
passport points for live tweeting being followed up. Idea of virtual event
following/participation strengthened.
 Link with Headstream in part via SxSC2 has led to UG digital marketing
students being invited as a cohort to conduct primary research in advance of
the Social Brands event. This is an ideal real-world learning opportunity for the
students, and offers a new connection between business and the University.

13. …cont‟d
 DE will be organizing a new social tools workshop run by #digichamps which will involve
humanities academics with no business knowledge or interest, and the outcomes and
involvement in it will feed straight to social business via SXSC2 connections
 Tweet analysis service now being linked to the JISC DataPool project and discussions with
the Web Observatory.
 SxSC2 inspired proposed unconference and SMiLE components at websci13
 DE USRG has been invited to participate in the hackathon in November, demonstrating
growing awareness of our activities
 Discussions with Leaderboarded.com developed from Lisa Harris‟ connections in Digital
Surrey. We are discussing the latter with respect to University of Southampton teaching
employing social media ranking.
 Ben Mawson example of small scale multidisiciplinary funding and events leading to new
collaborations. Ben was funded by two EPSRC bridging the gaps awards via sotonDH and
also by the music discipline. He was then further supported by collaborations built via DE
USRG lunches and the SxSC and SxSC2 events. He received further advice directly from CSI
and then moved on to discussions with Cap Gemini and in turn Google. Now in discussions
re: external industrial potential, internal R&D potential with ISVR and a large grant research
council application to the AHRC.
 Follow up meeting on Raspberry Pi network regionally following connection with IET, BAe
Outreach team (taking place on April 25)
 Implications for event management going Planned video channel to be developed
collaboratively with the team that filmed #SxSC2 – offering benefit to the business and
providing a template for future events

14. Purpose 1: Future Research
 Agile business model development (Ries 2011; Blank, 2012)
 Ivory – imagined user
 Fuller – Warren -> emergence (temporality and
ephemerality) (2004 -> )
 Warren – identity, narratives (2004 -> )

15. Purpose 2: Impact
 Generally – higher publicity through profile
development, social media, blogging, personal branding
or marketing, does tend to lead to higher citation rates
 http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/about-the-
project/

16. REF Impact
 The SHOP not the SHOP WINDOW! Main Panel C , 19)
 Output? Performance or installation 
 Table CI (REF Panel Criteria and Working Methods)
 Public Engagement Activity (sections 81/82)
 Table C2

17. Purpose 3: Value of informal
processes in commercialisation
 Pipeline development for formal processes (Boocock,
Frank and Warren, 2009)
 Ideas factory in their own right, e,g, slideshare
http://productnation.in/organize-barcamp-and-build-a-
119-million-idea-the-amazing-story-of-slideshare/
 Developing business models before business plans (Ries,
2011; Blank, 2012)

18. What’s A Startup?
Search Execute
Scalable Large
Startup Company
-Business Model found
- i.e. Product/Market fit
A Startup is a temporary organization used to
search for a repeatable and scalable
business model
Ever closer to experimental stage
Generate dozens of strategic options

19. Startups Search and Pivot
The Search for the Business Model
Scalable Large
Transition
Startup Company
Business Model found by founders
- customer needs/product features found
i.e. Product/Market fit

20. Startups Model, Companies Plan
The Execution of the Business Model
Scalable Large
Transition
Startup Company
Business Plan
- describes “knowns”
- features
- customers/markets
- business model

21. Conclusion: ongoing thoughts
 Stirring the waters: challenging speakers, such as
Andrew Keen, the self-styled Anti Christ of Silicon Valley
 Unsettling, noisy
 Dissonances
 Ephemerality generator
new spaces
new imaginings
new possibilities