Supporting digital innovation through knowledge integration at Philips Design

Abstract

Today’s economy requires companies to bring different knowledge bases together in order to deliver meaningful digital innovations in ecosystems. This master graduation project aims to improve understanding of how knowledge integration can support Philips’ innovation processes. This research is relevant as existing research has studied innovation processes in a different context, and because this study relates different ways of integrating knowledge to different innovation processes. In this explorative case study at Philips Design five workshops are analyzed and fifteen pre-, and post-workshop interviews are conducted. Moments in which knowledge is integrated during the workshops are identified and coded to allow for qualitative and quantitative analyses. This study finds that the occurrence of three different knowledge integration activities, ‘Transfer’, ‘Transform, and ‘Transcend’, are distributed differently across different phases in the innovation process. Furthermore, this study identifies how knowledge integration is influenced by experts, facilitators, and workshop elements. In contrast to earlier studies, I conclude that there is not one type of knowledge integration activity that is most preferable, but that the knowledge integration activity should be aligned with the phase of the innovation process. In addition, this study adds value to design practitioners as it identifies opportunities for stimulating knowledge integration during workshops, and describes outlines for developing relevant tools that support innovation processes.