Exploring brokering situations in an innovation boundary context

• This paper is based on studies of a living lab process, which is an open, user-centric, innovation approach, where several actors from industry, user groups and academia are involved. We aim to describe and analyze the dynamics in an innovation boundary context based on a living lab process. An action-oriented research approach was applied and the empirical results are from The Find Project (TFP), with the aim of customizing an ICT product based on the needs of a user group. The findings are analyzed from a community of practice perspective where the three different communities i) researchers from Halmstad Living Lab (HLL), ii) ICT developers (ICTD), and iii) next of kin’s to demented elderly persons (NOKD) represented the units of analysis. The analysis identified several boundary situations that played a vital role for the innovation process. The contribution of our research to innovation theory is a process model describing the dynamics in an innovation boundary context with regard to boundary objects-in-use as well as to brokering. The research highlights two different levels of brokering: i) product/service brokering; and ii) process brokering.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Innovation

learning

boundary context

brokering situations

communities of practice

Informatik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)