A serving innovation typology: mapping port-related innovations

ABSTRACT

The port sector is often perceived to be lagging behind in terms of innovative initiatives. It is unclear whether this is the result of a more limited engagement of the scientific community, or poor external marketing from port operators or whether the limited number of port-related scientific studies is not representative of the real volume of innovation in the sector. In order to offer deeper insight into the connections between the academic (port) innovation literature and actual innovation practices in the port sector, firstly, the literature is reviewed over the 2011–2018 period. Secondly, the paper proposes a typology, which supports the management of the innovation process and upon which future research could be based. Last, the analysis of 75 port-related innovation initiatives provides an application of the proposed typology. The findings from the study of innovation in the port-related sectors show that multi-dimensional innovation encompassing technological, managerial, organisational and cultural aspects is prevailing in this industry. So far only a handful of innovation cases are the result of co-operation, generally with other firms upstream or downstream in the maritime supply chain. Ultimately, it emerges, however, that collaborative innovation or co-innovation is the way forward for future maritime- and port-related innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation typology
• port-related innovation
• maritime supply chain

Acknowledgement

The authors wishes to acknowledge Yasmine Rashed, Valentin Carlan, Alessio Tei and Vasco Reis in supporting the preparation of the literature overview. The authors would like to thank the two reviewers for their careful review of our article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Thierry Vanelslander http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5213-3444

Christa Sys http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5962-334X

Jasmine Siu Lee Lam http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7920-2665

Claudio Ferrari http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4339-2871

Athena Roumboutsos http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4603-7039

Michele Acciaro http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0144-3033

Rosario Macário http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6922-661X

Genevieve Giuliano http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9257-8269

Notes

1 The classical way to measure innovation performance is through the volume of R&D investment. Typical R&D figures are significantly lower for the transport and logistics sector than for other industrial sectors. The question is raised whether R&D fully reflects the level of innovation activity.

2 A full description of the set of cases is available in Sys et al. (2015).

Additional information

Funding

This research was developed with the financial support of the BNP Paribas Fortis Chair on Transport, Logistics and Ports at the University of Antwerp.