Published on 21.11.2022 under General, Consulting, Open Innovation
Study "Innovation locations in Germany"
As the Creative Hubs & Labs team at matrix, we know that co-creative work is not just a current trend, but is also proving to be very useful for many complex problems. It can be clearly observed that more and more innovation labs and comparable places are emerging and working according to the principles of co-creation. We asked ourselves what are the conditions for the success of functioning places in the field of open innovation and what can be learned from existing places? In order to get to the bottom of these and other questions, we as matrix will be conducting the study "Innovation locations in Germany" in the coming months.
As part of the study, we look at places of innovation at the interface of product development, knowledge transfer and networking. By such places we mean innovation labs, hubs, makerspaces, fab labs, open workshops, real laboratories and others. The similarities are always in the co-creation and open innovation approach. Through an online survey with operators and additional interviews, we would like to collect data on planning, operation and evaluation. We want to use the results to improve knowledge transfer in the community and derive recommendations for action for existing and planned innovation locations.
Anyone who is already planning an innovation location can be inspired by the practical examples and make informed decisions during the planning phase based on these results. Places of innovation in the company can draw inspiration from this for further development.
Important research questions include:
- How can needs for a place of innovation in a region be determined?
- What are successful operator and financing models for innovation locations?
- Which partners should be involved in the planning phase and why is broad support important?
- What must be particularly important in the room concept?
- How do labs work within innovation ecosystems? What mechanisms and formats do they use to help strengthen this?
In the first part of the study, an online survey is carried out, which is divided into various thematic blocks: General information on the innovation location, equipment of the premises, offer, procedure during the planning phase, lessons learned from operation and evaluation of the offer.
In the second part of the study, semi-structured interviews of 30 - 45 minutes are conducted with operators and team members of innovation locations. The questions in the interviews build on those in the online survey and provide detailed information on individual locations. In the report, several places of innovation should be presented as a case study and interesting quotes from the interviews should be used. This gives selected innovation locations the opportunity to present their location in the report and draw the readers' attention to what they have to offer. After data collection and analysis, an open-access report is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2023.
Do you run an innovation center or are you actively involved in an innovation center? Then take part in the online survey now. The survey is anonymous, without naming your institution, and takes about 10 minutes.
Learn more about the Creative Hubs & Labs team here
