Enterprise Innovation

Conclusions

The objective of this book has been that of providing the essence of the results of the European project BIVEE to a large audience. We hope that it will contribute to improving the innovation potential of the European SMEs and, more generally, to improving the awareness of all the people who contribute to any kind of innovation initiative. There is a growing understanding that innovation is one of the main factors that will guarantee for the European production system a solid way of regaining competitiveness against the most dynamic economies of the world, such as USA, China and India. And that innovation is able to guarantee a long-term economic success, rather than other forms of competitive strategies (e.g. the price war) that, if successful, may only bring a temporary, fragile competitive edge.

The book reported on the key points that have characterized the BIVEE project. Primarily, the idea is that innovation is essentially a knowledge-centered activity. In fact, when an enterprise starts an innovation venture, it needs a substantial set of preexisting competencies and a solid knowledge base, on which the challenging work of innovators needs to rely. Competences and knowledge should not be only on technologies and the specific application domain, but they need to span on a much larger territory. In fact, to achieve a successful innovation, it is necessary to cover and interconnect knowledge from many different domains: from enterprise organization to economics, ...