Conflicts as opportunities for new insights

Abstract. Collaboration is increasingly valued for innovation, however setting up collaboration between different stakeholders is challenging due to the high level of uncertainties at the early stages of the innovation process. In networked innovation, the what (proposition) and the how (development process and business model) need to be designed together. Involvement of potential partners early in the design process is important to gather valuable insights to enrich the value proposition, and reduce uncertainty.

To support the multi-stakeholder collaboration, we are developing a method that combines user insights and business insights in a single design process for multi-stakeholder settings. In this paper, two cases are examined in which we applied our method with the purpose of defining a combined service proposition with a triple-helix innovation model by inviting core stakeholders.

We observed different dynamics in the discussions during the sessions, and more specifically, in the way conflicts emerged and new insights were created. Conflicts were observed to be valuable moments in multistakeholder discussions; they acted as a driver for the conversations that provided new insights to the participants and reduced the uncertainties, as a consequence. Confrontation rather than suppression of conflicts is suggested to reduce uncertainties in the earlier stages of innovation processes.