Digitalisation and innovation ‘26
, Radboud university 23-05-2026
Inhoudsopgave
Week 1.........................................................................................................2
Lecture 1...................................................................................................3
Trott chapter 1..........................................................................................5
Lecture 2...................................................................................................8
Trott chapter 2........................................................................................10
Lecture 3.................................................................................................11
Trott chapter 3........................................................................................14
Lecture 4.................................................................................................15
Trott chapter 4........................................................................................17
Week 2.......................................................................................................19
Lecture 5.................................................................................................19
Rouwette & Franco (2024) Ch. 3.1.2.......................................................22
Lecture 6.................................................................................................24
Appendix A..............................................................................................26
Lecture 7.................................................................................................28
Trott chapter 5........................................................................................30
Lecture 8.................................................................................................32
Week 3.......................................................................................................34
Lecture 9.................................................................................................35
Trott chapter 6........................................................................................38
Lecture 10...............................................................................................39
Trott chapter 7........................................................................................41
Week 4.......................................................................................................43
Lecture 11...............................................................................................44
Trott chapter 8........................................................................................46
Lecture 12...............................................................................................48
Lecture 13...............................................................................................50
Lecture 14...............................................................................................51
1
,Radboud university 23-05-2026
Week 1
2
, Radboud university 23-05-2026
Lecture 1
Innovation management is increasingly important due to major global megatrends such as
globalization, increasing digital connectivity, climate change, and changing regulations. These
developments make innovation especially relevant for high-income economies, where firms often rely
on innovation to justify higher prices, create barriers to imitation, and build sustainable competitive
advantage.
Innovation can be defined as the management of all activities involved in generating ideas,
developing technology, producing, and marketing new or improved products, processes, or services.
It is important to distinguish innovation from invention. Invention refers to the creation of a new idea
or artifact, while innovation goes further by translating that invention into economic value through
commercialization. Innovation therefore depends on invention, but only becomes real when it is
implemented and used in markets. It is also different from related concepts such as creativity,
entrepreneurship, design, and general organizational change.
Innovation can be understood as both a process and an outcome. As a process, it involves generating,
developing, and implementing new ideas. As an outcome, it refers to something new or significantly
improved, such as a product, service, process, organizational structure, or business model. The level
of novelty can vary, ranging from incremental innovation, which improves existing solutions, to radical
innovation, which introduces fundamentally new approaches.
Different types of innovation can be distinguished. Technological innovations include product
innovations, which are new or improved offerings for customers, and process innovations, which
improve production or manufacturing methods. Non-technological innovations include service
innovations, organizational innovations, marketing and management innovations, and business model
innovations. In some cases, innovation can be disruptive, meaning it significantly changes consumer
behavior and weakens existing firms by undermining their established competencies.
Innovation is highly uncertain, and failure rates are high, often ranging between 40% and 90%
depending on the industry. Many well-known examples such as Google Glass, the Segway, and
Amazon’s Fire Phone show that even highly resourced projects can fail due to weak market fit, poor
positioning, or limited customer acceptance. Because of this, innovation management is largely about
reducing risk and uncertainty while improving the chances of success across financial, technical, and
strategic dimensions.
Innovation management refers to the systematic coordination of innovation activities, including
product, process, and organizational innovation. It aims to improve both the effectiveness of
innovation (such as market fit and novelty) and efficiency (such as time and cost to market). A key
challenge is managing uncertainty, which is inherent to innovation but should not be confused with
randomness.
There are two main perspectives on how innovation emerges. The first views innovation as
originating from users, where companies benefit from identifying and absorbing external ideas
through so-called absorptive capacity. The second perspective, associated with Schumpeter, sees
innovation as a structured internal firm process involving stages from opportunity recognition to
market introduction. In this view, firms actively manage creativity, development, and
commercialization to capture value.
3
, Radboud university 23-05-2026
Inhoudsopgave
Week 1.........................................................................................................2
Lecture 1...................................................................................................3
Trott chapter 1..........................................................................................5
Lecture 2...................................................................................................8
Trott chapter 2........................................................................................10
Lecture 3.................................................................................................11
Trott chapter 3........................................................................................14
Lecture 4.................................................................................................15
Trott chapter 4........................................................................................17
Week 2.......................................................................................................19
Lecture 5.................................................................................................19
Rouwette & Franco (2024) Ch. 3.1.2.......................................................22
Lecture 6.................................................................................................24
Appendix A..............................................................................................26
Lecture 7.................................................................................................28
Trott chapter 5........................................................................................30
Lecture 8.................................................................................................32
Week 3.......................................................................................................34
Lecture 9.................................................................................................35
Trott chapter 6........................................................................................38
Lecture 10...............................................................................................39
Trott chapter 7........................................................................................41
Week 4.......................................................................................................43
Lecture 11...............................................................................................44
Trott chapter 8........................................................................................46
Lecture 12...............................................................................................48
Lecture 13...............................................................................................50
Lecture 14...............................................................................................51
1
,Radboud university 23-05-2026
Week 1
2
, Radboud university 23-05-2026
Lecture 1
Innovation management is increasingly important due to major global megatrends such as
globalization, increasing digital connectivity, climate change, and changing regulations. These
developments make innovation especially relevant for high-income economies, where firms often rely
on innovation to justify higher prices, create barriers to imitation, and build sustainable competitive
advantage.
Innovation can be defined as the management of all activities involved in generating ideas,
developing technology, producing, and marketing new or improved products, processes, or services.
It is important to distinguish innovation from invention. Invention refers to the creation of a new idea
or artifact, while innovation goes further by translating that invention into economic value through
commercialization. Innovation therefore depends on invention, but only becomes real when it is
implemented and used in markets. It is also different from related concepts such as creativity,
entrepreneurship, design, and general organizational change.
Innovation can be understood as both a process and an outcome. As a process, it involves generating,
developing, and implementing new ideas. As an outcome, it refers to something new or significantly
improved, such as a product, service, process, organizational structure, or business model. The level
of novelty can vary, ranging from incremental innovation, which improves existing solutions, to radical
innovation, which introduces fundamentally new approaches.
Different types of innovation can be distinguished. Technological innovations include product
innovations, which are new or improved offerings for customers, and process innovations, which
improve production or manufacturing methods. Non-technological innovations include service
innovations, organizational innovations, marketing and management innovations, and business model
innovations. In some cases, innovation can be disruptive, meaning it significantly changes consumer
behavior and weakens existing firms by undermining their established competencies.
Innovation is highly uncertain, and failure rates are high, often ranging between 40% and 90%
depending on the industry. Many well-known examples such as Google Glass, the Segway, and
Amazon’s Fire Phone show that even highly resourced projects can fail due to weak market fit, poor
positioning, or limited customer acceptance. Because of this, innovation management is largely about
reducing risk and uncertainty while improving the chances of success across financial, technical, and
strategic dimensions.
Innovation management refers to the systematic coordination of innovation activities, including
product, process, and organizational innovation. It aims to improve both the effectiveness of
innovation (such as market fit and novelty) and efficiency (such as time and cost to market). A key
challenge is managing uncertainty, which is inherent to innovation but should not be confused with
randomness.
There are two main perspectives on how innovation emerges. The first views innovation as
originating from users, where companies benefit from identifying and absorbing external ideas
through so-called absorptive capacity. The second perspective, associated with Schumpeter, sees
innovation as a structured internal firm process involving stages from opportunity recognition to
market introduction. In this view, firms actively manage creativity, development, and
commercialization to capture value.
3
