INSPIRE: Expanding Open Innovation Methods to Complex Engineered Systems

INSPIRE：将开放式创新方法扩展到复杂的工程系统

• 批准号: 1535539
• 负责人: Zoe Szajnfarber
• 金额: $ 99.98万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1535539&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: INSPIRE; Expanding; Open; Innovation; Methods

This Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) project is jointly funded by the Systems Science program in the Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) Division in the Engineering Directorate, by the Science of Science and Innovation Policy in the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate, and by the Office of Integrative Activities. The America COMPETES Act embodies a presidential directive for federal agencies to "spur innovation, solve tough problems, and advance their core missions" through an expanded use of open innovation methods. Open innovation describes an approach that solicits external input through for example, prizes, challenges and crowdsourcing. Despite the enormous promise of the approach, current successes are limited to a small subset of the potential applications implied in the vision. The theory generated through this award will provide the scientific basis for expanding the implementation of open methods to increasingly complex problems, by identifying the parts of problems most amenable to open methods. This has implications for how agencies solicit Research and Development (R&D) and how firms organize their research enterprise and incentivize their employees. It will provide a path to sustained American Competitiveness. In addition, an increased use of open innovation explicitly breaks down barriers to participation. It opens STEM for everyone; creating pathways, particularly for resource-constrained schools, to engage students in real-world problem solving.This award supports fundamental research to generate knowledge about how open innovation methods can be made applicable to complex systems through appropriate upfront decomposition. Specifically it will address two questions: (1) How does the extent of problem decomposition effect a) the ability for external solvers to contribute and b) the quality of solutions received? And: (2) How can organizations capture the value of open innovation methods and overcome adoption challenges? Addressing each question builds a necessary scientific basis for the complex phenomenon of open innovation policy and requires a novel integration of theory and methods from multiple disciplines. With respect to question (1), heuristics for how to best decompose a given system to leverage external contributions will be identified based on a simulation model and a series of field experiments. The theoretical basis will draw on organization design, systems engineering, economics, and the motivations of designers. Question (2) will be addressed through an in-depth longitudinal study of NASA?s ongoing experiment deploying open innovation methods within its existing R&D process. Field observations of how internal R&D experts respond to their changing identity from "problem solver" to "solution seeker" will be synthesized to explain how this necessary transition can be mitigated without losing internal talent. Theoretically, question 2 challenges longstanding assumptions about the optimal way to organize for innovation. This research will transform current practices in terms of how innovation is organized.

这项综合的NSF支持促进跨学科研究和教育（INSPIRE）项目由工程局的民用，机械和制造创新（CMMI）部门的系统科学计划共同资助，由社会，行为和经济科学局和综合活动的社会，行为和经济科学局在社会，行为和经济科学局的多学科活动的科学和创新政策中共同资助。 《美国竞争法》通过扩大开放创新方法的扩大使用，实现了联邦机构“刺激创新，解决艰难的问题并促进其核心任务”的总统指令。 Open Innovation描述了一种通过例如奖品，挑战和众包进行外部意见的方法。尽管该方法具有巨大的希望，但目前的成功仅限于视觉中隐含的潜在应用的一小部分。通过该奖项产生的理论将通过确定最适合开放方法的问题的各个部分来扩大开放方法的实施为日益复杂的问题。这对机构如何征求研发（R＆D）以及公司如何组织其研究企业并激励员工的含义。它将为持续的美国竞争力提供一条途径。此外，越来越多的开放创新使用明确打破了参与的障碍。它为每个人打开了茎。创建途径，特别是对于资源受限的学校，使学生参与现实世界中的问题解决。该奖项支持基本研究，以建立有关如何通过适当的前期分解使得如何适用于复杂系统的开放创新方法的知识。具体而言，它将解决两个问题：（1）问题分解的程度如何影响a）外部求解器贡献和b）收到的解决方案质量的能力？和：（2）组织如何捕获开放创新方法的价值并克服采用挑战？解决每个问题为开放创新政策的复杂现象建立了必要的科学依据，并需要从多个学科的理论和方法进行新颖的融合。关于问题（1），将根据模拟模型和一系列现场实验来确定如何最好地分解给定系统以利用外部贡献的启发式方法。理论基础将借鉴组织设计，系统工程，经济学和设计师的动机。问题（2）将通过对NASA的持续实验进行的深入纵向研究来解决，该实验在其现有的研发过程中部署开放创新方法。将合成内部研发专家从“问题解决者”到“寻求解决方案”的身份不断变化的身份，以解释如何减轻这种必要的过渡而不会失去内部人才，从而解释了如何减轻这种必要的过渡。从理论上讲，问题2挑战了关于组织创新的最佳方式的长期假设。这项研究将在组织方式方面改变当前的做法。