Computer-supported innovation pipelines: Current research and trends
Even though the term ‘‘innovation’’ is blurred into many different definitions and perceptions, our society has clearly identified the necessity to organize the means to transform new and relevant ideas into valued products, processes, services or business opportunities successfully accepted by the market. To meet such a challenge, companies are tempted to adopt new emerging models like open innovation, where not only their own internal ideas but also those from other firms drive them to new markets outside their traditional businesses. Without discipline and structured processes, the very best ideas and open approaches may fail to attain the target, as more rapid responses to the market, shortened product life cycles, enhanced product performance and user friendliness requirements tend to increase the risk of falling short. Computer-aided innovation is a new community challenging these current realities. One of its roles is to support innovation pipelines that enable enterprises to effectively implement a complete innovation process throughout the entire product life cycle. The aim of this special issue is to continue to contribute to the foundation of the theoretical background and practical implementation of computer-supported innovation pipelines, not only with methods and tools that integrate scientific fields, but also with practical applications that aim to increase the innovation success rate in an orchestrated manner. The term ‘‘pipeline’’ has been newly employed in our community as we realize that innovation is characterized by a lengthy process along which a great deal of associated data flow from one stage to another through various paths. Even if milestones of innovation paths have been clearly identified (idea synthesis phase, selection of the most promising and challenging ones, transforming an idea into a robust concept through multidisciplinary calculations), there are multiple ‘‘ways’’ of moving from idea to innovation. Consequently, the term ‘‘pipeline’’ has been used in the plural. The computer methods and tools for supporting these innovation pipelines are the central theme in this special issue, starting at the fuzzy front end of perceiving customer demands that challenge traditional design drivers and open new business opportunities and continuing through the entire product development process up to the successful introduction into the market. This special issue leads with a survey paper that summarizes past contributions in the CAI domain and contains a research agenda for computing developments associated with innovation pipelines. It analyzes how innovation has evolved to assert itself in the form of tangible, measurable tools and methods at every phase of the innovation process. This lead article identifies the emergence of a new age of tools for computer-aided artefact creation and