PhD. Students | Exnovate

First Name
Annika
Last Name
Schröder
Affiliation
TU Berlin; Deutsche Telekom Laboratories
(Preliminary) PhD Title
Involving user communities for company purposes - How to design a successful interface
PhD abstract
Virtual communities affect social interaction and shape different areas of life, e.g., how people work and spend their free time, learn, and form opinions and exchange information on products. Moreover, virtual communities are felt to be the best feature to get in touch with consumers. Since companies show an increased interest in starting and exploiting communities for their purposes (e.g. Innovation), the question regarding the design of interfaces in order to deal with this external source becomes increasingly important. However, theoretical and empirical evidence regarding the interface and interaction quality are sparse. That's why this thesis' research objective is to determine the factors influencing the interaction quality of communities and companies. Research questions concern determining factors of successful collaboration and the interface design. The thesis develops a comprehensive concept describing the interface, called community-company interaction quality (CC IQ) and how it affects the collaboration. In the course of research, hypotheses are developed and put to empirical testing resulting in guidelines for companies on how to design the interface to their needs.

Exnovate is a platform bringing together companies that are experienced or interested in open & collaborative innovation. We offer three types of networking services:

- OPEN INNOVATION FORUM for large and medium sized companies with best practices in open innovation
- OI FOR SMEs: Open and collaborative innovation is also very valuable for SMEs. We like to bring together best practices in Europe and around the globe.

Exnovate also brings together companies with the academic world. Have a look at the academic network of Exnovate. We can combine theory and practice leading to better (open) innovation practices.

Open & collaborative innovation, in addition to other forms of innovation, can be a tremendous driver for regional and international prosperity in both the short and the long run. The facilitation of innovation depends at least to some extent on the policy framework in which it resides, so please check out and contribute to the available information on this website.

Exnovate connects researchers who have top expertise in different subjects related to crowd-sourcing, open innovation, collaboration between innovation partners, and innovation networks. Exnovate offers them a platform to set up research projects that may fit in international research programs financed by the European Community or other international organizations. In addition, companies and governments can look for expertise among these academics to execute specific types of research projects about open innovation.

Currently we are developing a library of teaching cases and syllabi about user innovation, open & collaborative innovation. You can also find the list of top researchers that back the network.

Exnovate does not offer first line advice. The success of open innovation generated a fast growing market for all kinds consulting and service firms. Identification of the right providers is difficult and a standard for the service quality is non-existent. This is where Exnovate can play a role.