Innovation Process and Environment: Engineering Company Report

This report delves into the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship within the engineering field, using Hydro Industries as a case study. It examines how companies can 'think differently' to leverage innovation in a competitive economic environment, discussing intrapreneurship, rewarding experi...Read More

Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Engineers
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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Research informed Literature.................................................................................................2
Knowledge and Analysis of Innovative Process....................................................................2
Practical Application..............................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
In this report innovation is the main theme which has been discussed through the case study
of Hydro Industries in UK who have created a revolutionary journey through their different
thinking and creative solutions to treat waste water which has largely benefitted society from
their innovation and entrepreneurship. A discussion is presented to find out ways through
which such innovation approaches have been encouraged in Hydro Industries as well as
characteristics of firm has been assessed that supports innovation process. Further activities
have been suggested that can enable innovative environment for future.
Discussion
Research informed Literature
As globalisation has increased the pace of change, bringing in more intense competition from
more regions that often gives surprises and shocks, so during this intensely competitive
global economic environment, companies that think differently typically enjoys the high
premium of innovation that is based on human creativity, motivation and collaboration.
Companies that proactively perceive and react upon opportunities for change through
innovation and entrepreneurship during largely volatile business surroundings not only
sustain but also successfully prosper in toughest of the economic circumstances (Frishammar,
et al. 2019). Such firms utilise innovation as technological and tactical instrument to develop
agile innovation culture and efficacious business process. By thinking differently to promote
innovation these firms often take bold measures that enables them to attain key business
outputs like enhancing ROI for shareholders, efficacious attainment of business growth
objectives, rise of productivity and profits, effective response to industry disrupter and rise in
market share and prompt response to external challenges through developing human capital
as well as technological resources to do things differently (Goffin, et al. 2019).
Knowledge and Analysis of Innovative Process
As today innovation is everywhere due to exciting new technologies and business models, so
the idea of thinking differently can be embraced by the following ways:
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Intrapreneurship: thinking differently can be encouraged by accepting intrapreneurship needs
and responses that can be defined around thinking like an entrepreneur but bringing in ideas
to the company where they can be employed rather than launching own business. The
concept of intrapreneurship can be encouraged with certain simple measures such as
establishing clearly the goals where the staffs can reach and defining expectation that can be
attained with their ideas as well as encouraging a culture which reinstates the concept that “
no idea is a bad idea” through established policies that openly supports employees creativity
and entrepreneurship measures and do not criticise or punish failures (Leonidou, et. al. 2018).
Such culture and policies will encourage staffs to think differently, clearly and try out new
ideas that can build innovation.
Rewarding experimentation and even failures: the leaders of innovative firms should not only
provide their staffs with ample time as per 15-percent time rule to encourage experimentation
and creative thinking but even should reward their innovative habits and attitudes (Albors-
Garrigos, Igartua and Peiro, 2018). Further as nothing kills creativity faster than fear of
failure so the firms should not only celebrate success of experimentation but even celebrate
and overlook failures, to encourage “ thinking different” habit.
15 percent-time rule: under this rule, a firm should allow their staffs to spend enough time
like around 15% of their paid work time to experiment and creative thinking with new ideas
so that it builds a culture and habit of innovation and entrepreneurships. Giving time to think,
create and dream is the genesis of invention and promotes passion in staffs to work towards
their innovation.
Encourage research: along with motivating staffs to experiment, they can be encouraged even
to do their own research which will help to build their personal interest and passion to lead
their thinking and ideas through new technologies by constant learning, reading and writing
research reports for the firm. These research can be presented in employee forums that
creates a unique environment to think different and fosters space for innovation where staffs
can meet with like-minded teams across the firm to discuss and present their research ,
experiment and lead to intrapreneurial ideas from their 15% time (Visnjic, Wiengartenm and
Neely, 2016). Such employee forums can even offer a platform to share and shake thinking
giving better way to get the staffs motivated to think outside the box and take up new
challenges or exciting projects beyond the scope of their routine activities. This will make
employees engage with opportunities to try something new in work environment.
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The organisational characteristics that can facilitate innovation process are:
Building open culture: management of a firm can encourage their staffs to get involved and
think or work actively to create a culture of change and openness to new things. This open
culture will open ways for staffs to think different and innovate and will offer a compelling
vision due to presence of transformational leadership, high participatory management and
positive organisational interaction (Chatzoglou and Chatzoudes, 2018).
Fig: Essentials of Innovation
(Chatzoglou and Chatzoudes, 2018).
The data presents practices that leads to innovation by indicating the deployment of
innovation process where staffs are conscious how to contribute their ideas or open thinking
through aspiration, choices, support for discovery, evolution, acceleration, scale, mobility and
extended support. This kind of process and recognition system encourage staffs to think out
of box, beyond defined duties and demonstrate intellectual abilities to bring in innovation and
positive change. Backing innovation with recognition process creates higher visibility for
contributions thus building culture for innovation.
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Adaptability: innovation process can be facilitated through collective ability to adapt to
changes which can be established through supportive policies, process and commitment of
senior management to promote curiosity, cross-pollination of ideas and build a connection to
the market across all levels of the firm. Also participative framework and end-to-end route
map can help to build adaptability when attempting to innovate (Migdadi, 2019). Adaptive
innovation procedure can offer self-organising methods to collectively deliver outcomes and
offers a consistent channel for firms to assess promised value as well as minimise risks for
innovation projects.
Example, characteristics of open culture and adaptability has facilitated innovation process of
Hydro industries which is a rapidly emerging innovative engineering firm in UK that has
represented revolution in water purification and sustainability. A collaborative trail with five
water facilities was established by Hydro Industries to validate the efficacy of Hydro’s
electro-chemical (EC) system for solid metal separation. Hydron industries was capable to
show its abilities of the EC system with trial outcomes confirming capacity to treat backwash
water to standard benchmarks for updated discharged consent limits for disposals at
Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW). Though 2.1 bn people have since 1990 benefitted
with access to better water and sanitation provisions but declining availability of quality of
water has been a vital problem that has afflicted all regions across the globe. It is forecasted
that at least 1 out of each 4 person may be affected by water scarcity by 2050 (Hydro
Industries, 2020). Hence in mid of such water resource crisis, there has been an urgent need
for innovation in water treatment which has been possible due to revolutions of certain firms
like Hydron Industries. This innovation solution of Hydro’s electro-chemical (EC) system
resulted in improved process and cost efficacy. Hydro Industries presented a unique and
innovative solution by building HydroCurrent system that dissolved air floatation tank for
solid-liquid separation. By treating 10,000 litres/hr through HydroCurrent system the firm not
only successfully delivered its benchmarks of excellence but even considerably minimised
solids, turbidity levels. Economic benefit of this innovative solution was also considerable
which demonstrated capability to recycle treated water and use it to clean backwash filters
thus removing negative environment impacts.
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Fig: Waterwater treatment solution for Hydro Industries
Source: http://www.hydro-industries.co.uk/ (2020)
Practical Application
Implementation and planning to establish innovation environment
The organisational structure of Hydro Industries follows Innovative structure that is less
formal and more likely to foster creative inputs from department and staffs. This structure
focuses on people and ecosystem to lead innovative vision, culture and empower process to
support innovation.
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Fig: Organisational Structure of Hydron Industries
Source: self
Further to build an innovative environment, Hydro Industries can focus on planning and
implementing the following activities:
Experimentation: the firm can allow their staffs for open innovation by building designated
spaces within workplace where staffs can be creative or can experiment. Hydro Industries can
build innovation open labs to encourage and enhance open research and innovation
possibilities for their firm. Such spaces fosters ambition and ambience to allow staffs think
more to innovate (Giuliani, Robert and Le Roy, 2018).
Investment in idea generation: Hydro Industries can execute some ideas of their staffs
through investment in projects to actually encourage innovation practice and build a culture
that supports new idea generation, new ways for doing business efforts as well as implements
those ideas. Hydro Industries can ask their staffs to make small improvement in their ongoing
innovative initiatives through building “Festival of Idea” campaigns to encourage
contribution of staffs into a collective library of great ideas (Ergunova, et al. 2017). These
idea generation and execution activities will bridge innovative thinking to implementation
and encourage a culture of continued improvement through empowerment.
Conclusion
Thus it can be summarised that innovation is significant for the advancement and
sustainability of society as it includes initiatives and efforts of creative solutions to address
social problems and enhance capabilities to act for social development. It is responsible for
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solving collective issues in sustainable and efficacious way through new technology as is
evident with waste water treatment solutions built by Hydro Industries which is a
revolutionary innovative project that has been implemented to build a sustainable and
biological wastewater treatment process with low energy consumption and environment
impact.
References
Albors-Garrigos, J., Igartua, J. I., and Peiro, A. (2018). Innovation management techniques
and tools: Its impact on firm innovation performance. International Journal of Innovation
Management, 22(06), 1850051. Available on: doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919618500512
Chatzoglou, P., and Chatzoudes, D. (2018). The role of innovation in building competitive
advantages: an empirical investigation. European Journal of Innovation Management. 21(1),
44-69 Available on: doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-02-2017-0015
Ergunova, O. T., Lizunkov, V. G., Malushko, E. Y., Marchuk, V. I., and Ignatenko, A. Y.
(2017). Forming system of strategic innovation management at high-tech engineering
enterprises. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 177, No. 1,
p. 012046). IOP Publishing. Available on: 10.1088/1757-899X/177/1/012046/meta
Frishammar, J., Richtnér, A., Brattström, A., Magnusson, M., and Björk, J. (2019).
Opportunities and challenges in the new innovation landscape: Implications for innovation
auditing and innovation management. European Management Journal, 37(2), 151-164.
Available on: doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2018.05.002
Giuliani, P., Robert, M., and Le Roy, F. (2018). Reinvention of management innovation for
successful implementation. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small
Business, 34(3), 343-361. Available on:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Philippe_Giuliani/publication/326095334
Goffin, K., Åhlström, P., Bianchi, M., and Richtnér, A. (2019). Perspective: State of the art:‐ ‐ ‐
The quality of case study research in innovation management. Journal of Product Innovation
Management, 36(5), 586-615. Available on: doi/full/10.1111/jpim.12492
Hydro Industries (2020). A case study for wastewater treatment: Hirwuan. [Online] Available
on: http://www.hydro-industries.co.uk/case-studies.htm?id=2 Accessed on 17 April, 2020
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Leonidou, E., Christofi, M., Vrontis, D., and Thrassou, A. (2018). An integrative framework
of stakeholder engagement for innovation management and entrepreneurship
development. Journal of Business Research. Available on:
doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.11.054
Migdadi, M. M. (2019). Organizational learning capability, innovation and organizational
performance. European Journal of Innovation Management. Available on:
doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-11-2018-0246
Visnjic, I., Wiengarten, F., and Neely, A. (2016). Only the brave: Product innovation, service
business model innovation, and their impact on performance. Journal of Product Innovation
Management, 33(1), 36-52. Available on: doi/abs/10.1111/jpim.12254
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