Title: A methodology for the development of innovation clusters: application in the healthcare sector

Authors: Benjamin Zimmer; Julie Stal-Le Cardinal; Bernard Yannou; Gilles Le Cardinal; François Piette; Vincent Boly

Addresses: Ecole Centrale Paris, Laboratoire Genie Industriel – Grande Voie des vignes, 92290 Chatenay-Malabry, France; Hôpital Charles-Foix – 7, avenue de la République, 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, France ' Ecole Centrale Paris, Laboratoire Genie Industriel – Grande Voie des vignes, 92290 Chatenay-Malabry, France ' Ecole Centrale Paris, Laboratoire Genie Industriel – Grande Voie des vignes, 92290 Chatenay-Malabry, France ' Université de Technologie de Compiègne, Laboratoire Sciences Humaines – Centre Pierre Guillaumat, Bât. 1, Rue du Docteur Schweitzer, 60200 Compiègne, France ' Hôpital Charles-Foix – 7, avenue de la République, 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine, France; Faculté de Médecine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 15 Rue Ecole De Médecine, Paris, France ' Equipe de Recherche sur les Processus Innovatifs (ERPI), Université de Nancy, 8, rue Bastien Lepage 54010 Nancy Cedex, France

Abstract: For more than ten years, the French State and administrative regions have pursued economic development policies that stimulate all forms of innovation and encourage strategic market alliances of the economic stakeholders of a region. These 'cluster' policies aim to create ecosystems that are conducive to innovation and promote the emergence of collaborative organisations. Among these innovation clusters, we are concerned with those in the healthcare field pertaining to ageing and autonomy. Business models and action plans for these collaborative organisations are neither easy to define nor easy to stabilise and reinforce, because of the diversity of stakeholders with multiple expectations involved. This paper presents an application of the FAcT-Mirror method in the Sol'iage (http://www.soliage.com/english-version/) innovation cluster during its development stage. We demonstrate that the FAcT-Mirror method is particularly efficient and effective during the process of transformation from the emerging stage (stage of intention) to the development stage (stage of action) for a healthcare cluster to collectively produce common tools (definitions, strategy, working groups, and action plans).

Keywords: innovation clusters; innovation management; healthcare clusters; project ownership; conflict resolution; cluster development; value creation; industrial policy; collaborative organisations; collaboration; France.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2014.064017

International Journal of Technology Management, 2014 Vol.66 No.1, pp.57 - 80

Accepted: 19 Nov 2012
Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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