The Seminar

Objective

CINet has since 2003 conducted an annual seminar to support PhD students in their innovation research. This activity has depended greatly on the skills and efforts of Professor Harry Boer, in his roles as initiator and core faculty member. One of the great challenges for doctoral students is to develop publishable results from their research. This all starts with a well-designed research plan, followed by collecting and analyzing good data. Thus, the objective of the Harry Boer PhD seminar on “researching continuous innovation” is to help students mastering the process of getting from a research idea, through a robust research design, good qualitative and/or quantitative data, to a publishable theoretical and/or managerial contribution, in the field of (continuous) innovation. Hence, the title of the seminar: Researching Continuous Innovation – getting in, getting through and getting (it) out.

Continuous Innovation

Continuous innovation, the basis for sustainable success, requires companies to combine continuity and innovation in several different ways. World-class companies:

Make the right strategic choices.
Implement their strategies by continuously developing new products, markets, processes, forms of organization and management approaches.
Ensure continuity and improvement of their existing business.

Thus, continuously innovative companies successfully combine strategic, innovation and operational excellence or, as James March would put it, exploration and exploitation.

Work mode

The seminar provides a unique platform for doctoral students to present and discuss their research, and to get feedback from, and exchange comments and views with, fellow students and experienced researchers in the field. The program is highly interactive and includes ample opportunity for exploring emerging themes in continuous innovation theory and methodology. In the morning sessions of approx. three hours, the seminar faculty will deliver interactive lectures on topics such as research design, epistemology, collaborative, case study and action research, and writing scientific articles. The afternoon sessions will focus on peer-prepared discussions of the participants’ research designs.

Participants

The seminar offers space to max. 15 doctoral students or other researchers developing a PhD thesis, who are researching continuous innovation or a related topic, and are in a relatively early phase of their studies.