IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sru/ssewps/74.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sources of Ideas for Innovation in Engineering Design

Author

Abstract

This paper explores the sources of ideas for innovation in engineering design. The paper shows that engineering designers involved in complex, non-routine design processes rely heavily on face-to-face conversations with other designers for solving problems and developing new innovative ideas. The research is based on a case study and survey of designers from Ove Arup & Partners, a leading international engineering consultancy. We examine the role of different mechanisms for learning about new designs, the motivations of designers, problem solving and limits to designers' ability to innovative. We explore how the project-based nature of the construction sector shapes the ways in which designers develop new ideas and solve problems. We suggest that among the population of designers in Arup, there are a number of different design strategies for innovating and that these can have important implications for how design is managed. We locate our approach in the research on innovation in project-based firms, outlining patterns of innovation in firms that survive on the basis of their success in winning and managing projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Ammon Salter & David Gann, 2001. "Sources of Ideas for Innovation in Engineering Design," SPRU Working Paper Series 74, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sru:ssewps:74
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/spru/publications/imprint/sewps/sewp74/sewp74.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. D'Adderio, Luciana, 2001. "Crafting the virtual prototype: how firms integrate knowledge and capabilities across organisational boundaries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1409-1424, December.
    2. Klevorick, Alvin K. & Levin, Richard C. & Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1995. "On the sources and significance of interindustry differences in technological opportunities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 185-205, March.
    3. Steinmueller, W Edward, 2000. "Will New Information and Communication Technologies Improve the 'Codification' of Knowledge?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 9(2), pages 361-376, June.
    4. Nightingale, Paul, 1998. "A cognitive model of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 689-709, November.
    5. David M. Gann & Ammon Salter, 1998. "Learning and Innovation Management in Project-Based, Service-Enhanced Firms," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(04), pages 431-454.
    6. Gann, David M. & Salter, Ammon J., 2000. "Innovation in project-based, service-enhanced firms: the construction of complex products and systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 955-972, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Erik Baark, 2005. "New Modes of Learning in Services: A Study of Hong Kong's Consulting Engineers," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 283-301.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salter, Ammon & Gann, David, 2003. "Sources of ideas for innovation in engineering design," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1309-1324, September.
    2. Ammon J Salter & David M Gann, 2001. "The Role of Middle Range Publications in the Development of Engineering Knowledge," SPRU Working Paper Series 58, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    3. Eugenia Cacciatori, 2004. "Organisational Memory and Innovation Across Projects: Integrated Service Provision in Engineering Design Firms," SPRU Working Paper Series 117, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Prencipe, Andrea & Tell, Fredrik, 2001. "Inter-project learning: processes and outcomes of knowledge codification in project-based firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1373-1394, December.
    5. Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson, 2013. "The Evolution of Technologies: An Assessment of the State-of-the-Art," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 3-46, June.
    6. Qingjun Zhao & Jiancheng Guan, 2012. "Modeling the dynamic relation between science and technology in nanotechnology," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(2), pages 561-579, February.
    7. Malo, Stéphane, 2009. "The contribution of (not so) public research to commercial innovations in the field of combinatorial chemistry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 957-970, July.
    8. Carol Ekinsmyth, 2002. "Project Organization, Embeddedness and Risk in Magazine Publishing," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 229-243.
    9. Goto, Masashi, 2023. "Anticipatory innovation of professional services: The case of auditing and artificial intelligence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    10. Stefano Brusoni & Keith Pavitt, 2003. "Problem solving and the co-ordination of innovative activities," SPRU Working Paper Series 93, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    11. Cacciatori, Eugenia, 2008. "Memory objects in project environments: Storing, retrieving and adapting learning in project-based firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1591-1601, October.
    12. Criscuolo, Paola & Salter, Ammon & Sheehan, Tony, 2007. "Making knowledge visible: Using expert yellow pages to map capabilities in professional services firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1603-1619, December.
    13. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    14. Nightingale, P., 2000. "The product-process-organisation relationship in complex development projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(7-8), pages 913-930, August.
    15. Elena M. Tur & Evangelos Bourelos & Maureen McKelvey, 2022. "The case of sleeping beauties in nanotechnology: a study of potential breakthrough inventions in emerging technologies," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 69(3), pages 683-708, December.
    16. Anders Broström, 2012. "Firms’ rationales for interaction with research universities and the principles for public co-funding," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 313-329, June.
    17. Corradini, Carlo & D'Ippolito, Beatrice, 2022. "Persistence and learning effects in design innovation: Evidence from panel data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    18. Chang-Yang Lee & Ji-Hwan Lee & Ajai S. Gaur, 2017. "Are large business groups conducive to industry innovation? The moderating role of technological appropriability," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 313-337, June.
    19. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    20. Cimoli, Mario & Primi, Annalisa & Rovira, Sebastián, 2011. "National innovation surveys in latin America: empirical evidence and policy implications," Documentos de Proyectos 3897, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    engineering design; innovation; tacit knowledge; project-based firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sru:ssewps:74. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: University of Sussex Business School Communications Team (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/spessuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.