ENTOV-HVM Working Groups - Yes We Can Do It!

This blog post is a draft response to “Section 4 Implementation / Section 4.1 Coherence and Effectiveness of Work Plan  / Section 4.1.1 Description of Working groups, Tasks and Activities” in the technical annex of the planned COST 2019 Open Call Proposal Reference: OC-2019-1-23678 "Open European Network for Enterprise Innovation in High Value Manufacturing (ENTOV-HVM)".

The image shows a well-known productivity poster to exemplify the need for rolling up our sleeves to get this done  (retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Do_It!).

While the primary mechanism for ENTOV-HVM for meeting the challenge are training schools and short-term scientific missions (i.e. joint research-industry workshops and living labs), these can only succeed if the needed webs of relationships are created and nurtured as effectively as possible. For this purpose a multi-dimensional matrix of working groups will be formed based on the roles needed in the innovation process and the stages of such. The collaboration between the working groups will be facilitated by specially trained “relationship weavers” with deep competency in serving purposeful living systems based networks. It is expected that membership and activity in each of the working groups will fluctuate over time thus requiring continuous support in achieving successful collaboration of changing participants. All working groups are responsible for conducting research efforts aimed at achieving a deeper understanding of their focus and disseminating the results of such. Specifically there will be 12 working groups for:

Role based working groups:

• WG1 Innovators: Innovators are the originators of the “idea” which will be nurtured by ENTOV-HVM through the innovation process. This working group is focused determining how to identify and solicit the participation of innovators as an input to WG4 Marketeers.

• WG2 Product Packagers: Product packagers convert the “idea” of an innovator into a product for the user. This working group is focused on defining the criteria which an “idea” should meet for rapid progression through the innovation process as an input to WG1 Innovators and WG4 Marketeers.

• WG3 Users: Users apply the “idea” to a specific context in order to achieve the value proposition. This working group is focused on identifying (potential) user communities for the “idea” and determining how adoption can be accelerated as an input into WG2 Product Packager and WG4 Marketeers.

• WG4 Marketeers: Marketeers are interested in creating a “coalition of the willing” with relevant self-organizational behaviours along the shared purpose of nurturing the “idea” through the innovation process. Marketeers play THE pivotal role in supporting all other workgroups achieve their objectives

• WG5 Buyers and Funders: Buyers and funders are interested in defining and achieving the value proposition of (cohorts of) “ideas” including their financial funding. This working group is focused on identifying funding sources and soliciting financial contributions, including inputs to all other working groups in order to focus offerings on the value expectations of Buyers and Funders.

• WG6 Commercializers: Commercializers are interested in putting the required commercial and legal agreements in place for “ideas” as they proceed through the innovation process along with ensuring their compliant operation.

Innovation stage based working groups:

• WG7 Research network archetype: The research network archetype is a web of relationships with the primary focus on research and / or innovation exploration. It consists of tangible and intangible exchanges between the researchers / innovators, the intended beneficiaries and the research community as a whole. This working group is focused on the value network analysis of this archetype including the mapping of its digital / online footprint and roadmaps to optimization in order to accelerate progress of ideas through this stage during the innovation process.

• WG8 Community building network archetype: The community building network archetype is a web of relationships which evolves out of the research web archetype as the research and / or innovation crystalizes and begins reaching early stage practitioners / evangelists in organizations. It consists of tangible and intangible exchanges between the researchers and / or innovators, the intended beneficiaries, the research community and the practitioner community. This working group is focused on the value network analysis of this archetype including the mapping of its digital / online footprint and roadmaps to optimization in order to accelerate progress of ideas through this stage during the innovation process.

• WG9 Market validation network archetype: The market validation archetype is a web of relationships that evolves when the product or the result is clear and the goal of the network is to test and validate market or beneficiary readiness. It logically builds on the results of efforts conducted by a previous community building web archetype. It essentially consists of tangible and intangible exchanges between the researcher and / or innovator, the intended beneficiaries, the research community, the practitioner community and the product packager. This working group is focused on the value network analysis of this archetype including the mapping of its digital / online footprint and roadmaps to optimization in order to accelerate progress of ideas through this stage during the innovation process.

• WG10 Commercialization network archetype: The commercialization network archetype involves bringing the product or result to the market through production and distribution. It consists of tangible and intangible exchanges between the researcher and / or innovator, the intended beneficiaries, the research community, the practitioner community, the product packager, the commercializer and then "closes the circle" through exchanges between the commercializer and the beneficiary. This working group is focused on the value network analysis of this archetype including the mapping of its digital / online footprint and roadmaps to optimization in order to accelerate progress of ideas through this stage during the innovation process.

• WG11 Transition network archetypes: The transition network archetype exist between each of the previously mentioned archetypes and are responsible for the transformation between the different innovation web stages. This working group is focused on analysis of how the other network archetypes change to transition state in order to accelerate progress of ideas from one stage to the next.

Finally WG12 Web Weavers: This working group is responsible for ensuring that the interactions between all other working groups follows the optimal collaboration patterns as determined by the relevant value network archetypes.

Each working group will consist of at least a senior and a junior representative from each of the proposer institutions plus an industry mentor enabling related scientific missions.

To join the network please visit our LinkedIn Group at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8779542/