Knowledge Co-Creation Roadmapping for Future Industrial Visions: Case Study on Smart Infrastructure

This paper proposes a knowledge co-creation roadmapping tool for knowledge creation in future-oriented discussions for members of competing firms with the aim of co-creatively envisioning the future of the industry. This approach adapts the roadmapping method to knowledge creation, thus building a communication infrastructure for discussing future plans beyond an organization (i.e., participants are from competing companies). Knowledge co-creation roadmapping could be commissioned to an open industry organization consisting of members sent by individual companies interested in overcoming obstacles to development. We put our method into practice with the subcommittee of the Engineering Advancement Association of Japan and set the subject as “The Future of Smart Social Infrastructure”, a theme involving multiple stakeholders. We were able to draw up a vision of smart technology on the basis of the insights gained through the roadmapping activities. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in terms of acquiring knowledge that could not be obtained by our own company or a single industry organization alone.