Outcome, process and support: analysing aspects of innovation in public sector organizations

Figures & data

Figure 1. The double translation of the innovation concept (Nählinder & Fogelberg Eriksson, 2017).

Table 1. A comparison of STI and DUI (Nählinder and Fogelberg Eriksson, 2017).

	STI	DUI
Initiative	Management (top-down)	Employees
Relation to ordinary work	Often organized in special units, such as projects	Not separated from everyday work
Resources needed	Essential. In order to execute, extra resources needs to be summoned and organized	Limited, since part of everyday work
Visibility	High: due to need of extra resources Resulting innovations countable	Low: since integrated into everyday work Resulting innovations uncounted/ uncountable
IPRs (intellectual property rights)	Often applicable	Not applicable
Diffusion	Often diffusible, especially if protected by IPRs	Diffusion difficult, since inter alia the innovation need to fit into an organizational context
Typical support processes	The linear model ‘Innovation management’ R&D projects	Suggestion box Continual improvement Innovative/creative climate

Table 2. Analytical model: aspects of innovation (outcome, process, support) in relation to modes of innovation (STI and DUI).

Innovation aspect	STI	DUI
Innovation as outcome: The actual innovation	Typically innovations which can be diffused and/or protected	Typically innovations which are numerous, small and invisible
Innovation process: The route an innovation in development takes	STI processes, based on know-why- knowledge and indirectly on know-what	DUI processes, based on know-how and know-who knowledge. Often rather short and cannot always be separated from innovation as outcome. A specific type of learning process
Innovation support: The measures taken by an organization to support its innovativeness	Require investments to be implemented and therefore tend to be visible: R&D departments, organizational structures, (innovation) projects	Tend to be supported in idea generation, idea collection or innovation climate. Could be supported through deliberate attention to workplace learning

Table 3. PIMM summarized in the analytical model.

Innovation aspect	STI	DUI
Innovation as outcome: What innovations were actually supported?	The PIMM model typically supported diffusible and protectable innovations	The PIMM model did not attract or result in organizational innovations and only to a limited degree in service innovations
Innovation process: What innovation processes were actually supported?	STI processes, based on the design of the PIMM model	DUI processes, based on how the ideas for the innovations were meant to arise and the lack of resources provided to idea carriers
Innovation support: What characterizes the innovation support?	The PIMM model was based on previous support of STI processes and focused goods innovations	The PIMM project also aimed at improving innovation climate, but did not have the necessary mechanisms

Nählinder, J., & Fogelberg Eriksson, A. (2017). The MIO model. A guide for innovation support in public sector organisations. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 21(2), 23–47.

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