Inaugural lecture prof.dr.ir. F. Deken 6 September 2024 15:45 - 16:45

Fulfilling social missions: from local experimentation to successful innovations

How do we prevent a healthcare attack? How do we realize climate ambitions? Today's problems require innovative solutions. No shortage of ideas. Unfortunately, many promising pilots fail due to the way we traditionally organize innovation. Professor of Strategy, Technology & Innovation Fleur Deken investigates how so-called field labs can enable more successful implementation. In these local experiments, the parties involved develop partial solutions in an environment where things are allowed to fail.

Because companies, government, science and users work together here, conflicting interests are given a place in the innovation process. This prevents it from turning out later that what seemed like the solution on paper does not work in practice. Deken presents a research agenda into new forms of collaboration and governance, which require a new way of acting: the ecosystem mindset. This brings critical dependencies and obstacles to light in a timely manner.