Brokering in dynamic front-end innovation collaborations

Abstract

At the front-end of innovation, ideas are generated, selected and initial conceptualisations formed. Collaborations of diverse participants at this front-end of innovation are becoming increasingly common as the combination of heterogeneous knowledge improves idea generation and innovation activity through the incorporation of a variety of different stakeholder perspectives. However, diverse participants are not always able to interact effectively, creating difficulties in reaching a level of shared understanding. The introduction of a broker provides a means to overcome these problems. A broker is a person who creates and maintains social ties and operates in a sparse social network, occupying a central position amongst groups of otherwise unconnected individuals. In Australia, the Victorian State government has invested substantially in a new approach to change to a low-carbon future, creating the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL) with the explicit task of shaping sustainable urban landscapes. VEIL is a consortium of government agencies, four universities, and a number of private firms. VEIL's task is to project visions of Victoria, initially Melbourne, that break from the trajectories of the past, with a time horizon of 25 years. Those visions are then used to back-cast, to identify 'vision-driven' design and innovation projects for the present or short-term future. This paper reports the findings of a process study of the idea generation process during the evolution of a single eco-innovation urban renewal project carried out by the VEIL in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows over a period five months from April, 2010 to July, 2010. A process-tracing method was used to explicitly capture time by identifying the links between chains of events and establishing how these links can highlight particular processes at work. It identifies the conditions under which processes operate within the case in order to explain the role a broker played in facilitating the emergence of ideas. Process-tracing is well established in disciplines such as political science and sociology where history and time matter. It is a form of within-case analysis which seeks to explain how phenomena come about by identifying the process(es) or explanatory mechanisms.