Projects In this section the research projects for Social Innovation are listed. The current projects can be found below. The completed research and future research are listed in de subsections. David Langley Title: Estimating the market demand for a new product based on the likelihood of imitation. Description: Current methods for assessing the future market demand of innovations are either based on a form of extrapolation and therefore inapplicable to major innovations, or they are based on a form of trial-and-error and therefore costly and time-consuming. A recent insight is that the adoption of new behaviours can be seen as a process of imitation. This research project aims to apply this notion to the adoption of new products and services, thereby avoiding extrapolation and trial-and-error. The intention is to develop a suitable model, determine parameters, build an instrument and validate the instrument compared to existing methods. This process will be carried out in two sub-projects, with the first project taking a qualitative approach and the second taking an empirical approach. Hans Risselada Title: Modeling the impact of social networks on adoption of new ICT products and services Description: In a competitive environment innovation is of utmost importance for companies to survive. Despite the huge investments in designing, testing and marketing new products, many failures occur. The objective of this research project is to analyze the role of the social network of customers on their adoption behavior. Increased knowledge on the relationship over time between social networks, marketing activities and adoption behavior improves time-of-adoption predictions, increases campaign efficiency and thereby increases revenues. A unique customer dataset allows us to account for customer heterogeneity and to explicitly model network connections. Manon Schols Title: ICT and Social Cohesion Description: The ICT and social cohesion research project will answer questions about the role of the use of ICT (mainly Internet) in increasing, decreasing or supplementing face-to-face contact by digital contact. It will also answer the question of how online and offline relations relate to each other and how people give meaning to their relations using ICT. In other words, what role does the use of ICT play in our daily social lives? How do people use ICT for social support and how does the use of ICT use relate to feelings of loneliness and connectedness? This research project will consist of three studies. The first study will investigate the relations between the use of ICT and social cohesion of small units, in particular families. The other two projects are still under construction. Sabrina Sauer Title: Co-creation as innovation: agency of users in Living Lab practices Description: One of the reasons as to why Living Labs are developed is to ensure that new ICT products and services cater to actual user needs. A Living Lab can be described as an organization (public-private partnerships), a platform (i.e. European-wide network) and as a methodology. In terms of methodology, two of the main characteristics are user centricity - in the shape of co-creation- and the inclusion of daily life as a setting for design. The initial focus of the project will be to assess what space Living Labs leave for users to creatively influence design processes. Theoretically, the project can be placed within the field of science and technology studies, working from the perspectives of actor network theory, the social adoption of ICT and situated action. Currently a first project plan is underway, as is a selection of Living Lab case studies.
In this section the research projects for Social Innovation are listed. The current projects can be found below. The completed research and future research are listed in de subsections.
David Langley
Title: Estimating the market demand for a new product based on the likelihood of imitation.
Description: Current methods for assessing the future market demand of innovations are either based on a form of extrapolation and therefore inapplicable to major innovations, or they are based on a form of trial-and-error and therefore costly and time-consuming. A recent insight is that the adoption of new behaviours can be seen as a process of imitation. This research project aims to apply this notion to the adoption of new products and services, thereby avoiding extrapolation and trial-and-error. The intention is to develop a suitable model, determine parameters, build an instrument and validate the instrument compared to existing methods. This process will be carried out in two sub-projects, with the first project taking a qualitative approach and the second taking an empirical approach.
Hans Risselada
Title: Modeling the impact of social networks on adoption of new ICT products and services
Description: In a competitive environment innovation is of utmost importance for companies to survive. Despite the huge investments in designing, testing and marketing new products, many failures occur. The objective of this research project is to analyze the role of the social network of customers on their adoption behavior. Increased knowledge on the relationship over time between social networks, marketing activities and adoption behavior improves time-of-adoption predictions, increases campaign efficiency and thereby increases revenues. A unique customer dataset allows us to account for customer heterogeneity and to explicitly model network connections.
Manon Schols
Title: ICT and Social Cohesion
Description: The ICT and social cohesion research project will answer questions about the role of the use of ICT (mainly Internet) in increasing, decreasing or supplementing face-to-face contact by digital contact. It will also answer the question of how online and offline relations relate to each other and how people give meaning to their relations using ICT. In other words, what role does the use of ICT play in our daily social lives? How do people use ICT for social support and how does the use of ICT use relate to feelings of loneliness and connectedness?
This research project will consist of three studies. The first study will investigate the relations between the use of ICT and social cohesion of small units, in particular families. The other two projects are still under construction.
Sabrina Sauer
Title: Co-creation as innovation: agency of users in Living Lab practices
Description: One of the reasons as to why Living Labs are developed is to ensure that new ICT products and services cater to actual user needs. A Living Lab can be described as an organization (public-private partnerships), a platform (i.e. European-wide network) and as a methodology. In terms of methodology, two of the main characteristics are user centricity - in the shape of co-creation- and the inclusion of daily life as a setting for design. The initial focus of the project will be to assess what space Living Labs leave for users to creatively influence design processes. Theoretically, the project can be placed within the field of science and technology studies, working from the perspectives of actor network theory, the social adoption of ICT and situated action. Currently a first project plan is underway, as is a selection of Living Lab case studies.