Framework and IT-based toolset to support the early stages of collaborative innovation

“Innovation is making money out of research” [Eriksson, 2006] initiated by a technology push or a market requirement (market pull) [Blättel-Mink, 2006]. Based on the push or pull an idea is needed either to meet the market requirements or to translate a technology into a potential product, service or process. In reference to innovation processes this early-phase is represented as a black box. The handling of and work with ideas is quite fuzzy and unstructured in this phase. Thinking of the idea to be the first step to a successful innovation it is necessary to enhance the input quality to the subsequent steps of innovation processes. Therefore, the innovators´ work within the ideation phase needs to be externalised and supported. As ideation processes become more and more spatially dislocated the interaction between innovators needs to be addressed independently of their physical locations. This paper describes the work of innovators in the early-stage of innovation and how they handle ideas in the fuzzyfront end of innovation. A framework for ideation work in business processes and an online IT toolset developed on the basis of this knowledge which supports innovators to work with ideas more efficiently and effectively in a collaborative manner is described. The toolset supports dislocated innovation workers within the generation, development and evaluation of ideas.