Title: Innovation sessions as sources of new ideas

Authors: Satu Parjanen

Addresses: Lahti School of Innovation, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Saimaankatu 11, FI-15140 Lahti, Finland

Abstract: Sustaining open innovation requires better understanding of how collaborative efforts of contributors yield collective creativity. This article examines the possible creativity in innovation session groups and demonstrates that under the right conditions the exchange of ideas in groups may be an important factor for enhancing innovation. An innovation session is a process which concentrates especially on how to get external knowledge to the organisation. This study uses the experiences of the participants of innovation sessions to answer the questions of how to support organisations to bring in new ideas from outside and how to promote collective creativity in group context.

Keywords: collective creativity; diversity; idea generation; new ideas; external knowledge; innovation sessions; brokerage functions; open innovation; collaborative efforts; session groups; learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2012.047137

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2012 Vol.11 No.4, pp.352 - 368

Published online: 28 Aug 2014 *

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