Innovation and foresight in SMEs: lessons from the case of U.K. digital health companies
Innovation and foresight in SMEs: lessons from the case of U.K. digital health companies
Technological innovation represents a significant opportunity for those organizations that are able to identify new technologies early and anticipate their future evolution and impact. At the same time, technological change is a key challenge, particularly for organizations that have limited resources for monitoring and developing emerging technologies and/or for transferring technologies from other industries/sectors. This is the case, in particular, for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The main objective of this article is to propose a new methodological approach to foresight that contributes to the literature on innovation management. This approach is tailored to SMEs and addresses the specific barriers they face in relation to foresight and innovation, e.g., limited access to information about new technologies and limited familiarity with advanced managerial practices. We illustrate our novel approach to foresight and innovation in SMEs and its application to a cluster of 16 SMEs of the London Digital Health Hub, and we discuss the main benefits and disadvantages of this approach. We contribute to the foresight and innovation literature by developing a methodological framework that is specifically designed for SMEs, rather than the adaptation or transfer of the dominant frameworks that have been previously designed for and applied in large organizations, corporate firms, and public institutions.
Innovation, Technological Change, Foresight, SME clusters, Networking, innovation, small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clusters, networking, technological change, Foresight
1655-1668
Vecchiato, Riccardo
13e3c385-a9ff-4b48-bd91-93a2b6309eaa
Do, Hang
98fe3248-9673-4c6a-8f9a-74cf68a59930
Pierrakis, Yannis
1cd04da7-f8f1-4f41-896a-44c8998f4394
Blackburn, Robert
dcdfa2ce-b8d3-4a3f-83f1-8d822f02a89a
Vecchiato, Riccardo
13e3c385-a9ff-4b48-bd91-93a2b6309eaa
Do, Hang
98fe3248-9673-4c6a-8f9a-74cf68a59930
Pierrakis, Yannis
1cd04da7-f8f1-4f41-896a-44c8998f4394
Blackburn, Robert
dcdfa2ce-b8d3-4a3f-83f1-8d822f02a89a
Vecchiato, Riccardo, Do, Hang, Pierrakis, Yannis and Blackburn, Robert
(2024)
Innovation and foresight in SMEs: lessons from the case of U.K. digital health companies.
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, , [3336732].
(doi:10.1109/TEM.2023.3336732).
Abstract
Technological innovation represents a significant opportunity for those organizations that are able to identify new technologies early and anticipate their future evolution and impact. At the same time, technological change is a key challenge, particularly for organizations that have limited resources for monitoring and developing emerging technologies and/or for transferring technologies from other industries/sectors. This is the case, in particular, for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The main objective of this article is to propose a new methodological approach to foresight that contributes to the literature on innovation management. This approach is tailored to SMEs and addresses the specific barriers they face in relation to foresight and innovation, e.g., limited access to information about new technologies and limited familiarity with advanced managerial practices. We illustrate our novel approach to foresight and innovation in SMEs and its application to a cluster of 16 SMEs of the London Digital Health Hub, and we discuss the main benefits and disadvantages of this approach. We contribute to the foresight and innovation literature by developing a methodological framework that is specifically designed for SMEs, rather than the adaptation or transfer of the dominant frameworks that have been previously designed for and applied in large organizations, corporate firms, and public institutions.
Text
Innovation_foresight_SMEs_18oct23_highlighted (003)
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 11 November 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 November 2024
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the BEIS Business Basics Program, Innovate U.K., under Project 23855, in part by the Innovation Growth Lab of Nesta, and in part by the London Digital Health Hub.
Keywords:
Innovation, Technological Change, Foresight, SME clusters, Networking, innovation, small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clusters, networking, technological change, Foresight
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 485417
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/485417
ISSN: 0018-9391
PURE UUID: da388f4b-130e-4bea-95a0-0cd7aa74a1e4
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 06 Dec 2023 17:37
Last modified: 03 Sep 2024 02:02
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Riccardo Vecchiato
Author:
Yannis Pierrakis
Author:
Robert Blackburn
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
