An information system to support problems definition based on technological frames and organisational routines

The common technical problems definition (CTPD) during the first stages of collaborative process between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and academic research organisations is influenced by different cognitive frameworks. Indeed, each partner has his own individual cognitive frame and mostly interested only in his own objectives. In this context, a perspective of convergence of partners during interaction could be facilitated by a common technological frame, based on the practices, confrontation and combination of partial agreements. In this article, the authors discuss an approach for supporting collaborative activities to build common technical problem definition. This system intends to model the common structure of the SME and research organisations as a learning process to support the relationship and to search ways to generate collaborative knowledge.