Virtual Innovation Environment

Abstract

Major new trends of our era emerge from the spread of information society and the increasing role of innovation as source of competitive advantage, development, and wealth. Innovation, however, is a tricky issue. We do not dispose adequate theories for predicting innovation in different sectors of industry and services, though we have plenty of tools and methods which assist and facilitate innovation in product development, process reorganization, and quality improvement. We tend to compensate the lack of theory about radical innovation (none can tell what the next big thing will be in an industry sector) with environments of innovation enabling the use of tools, instruments, and methods: financial tools, institutional tools, communication and information tools, creativity tools, and others. The rise of the information society opened new possibilities in the creation of environments of innovation. Digital tools and virtual (digital) innovation environments may assist organizations in learning and practicing innovation. They offer new forms of government (digital this time), online or offline, for mastering the complex processes of technological development and innovation. These virtual environments are important for companies, research institutions, technology intermediary organizations, and the public administration involved in innovation and research and development (R&D) management as well.