The Artist as Innovation Muse: Findings from a Residence Program in the Fuzzy Front End

Abstract

In a highly competitive business environment, integrating artists into corporate research and development (R&D) seems to be a promising way to foster inventiveness and idea generation. Given the importance of individual level innovation for product development, this study explores the benefits that employees experience from the artist-in-residence-program at Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany. Qualitative content analysis of interviews with scientists and engineers was performed in order to explore the impact of their encounters with artists in the theoretical framework of the triadic concept and transmission model of inspiration. The findings corroborate the notion that inspiration is a suitable theoretical underpinning for individual benefits of art–science collaborations in the front end of innovation. Scientists and engineers are inspired by the artists’ otherness and transcend their usual modes of perception in favor of enhanced focal, peripheral and bifocal vision. Whereas shifts in perspective are reflected in individual thinking patterns, researchers are hardly motivated to change their work-related behavior. The exchange with artists does not have a concrete impact on technological innovation, because researchers neither integrate impulses into their experiential world nor link them to fields of activity. In the case under scrutiny, artistic impulses do not contribute to idea generation in the sense of front-end activities. The study contributes to research on artists in businesses by illuminating the R&D environment as a hitherto neglected field of activity. While substantiating previous research on artist-in-science-residencies, the results suggest that the potential of such interdisciplinary endeavors is limited.

Engaging Distributors’ Strategic Orientation in Fuzzy Front-End Innovation—Analysis Based on the Moderating Effects of CEO Alertness

“…Based upon the academic literature on channel members’ extra-role behaviors (Mandi et al, 2022; Zhou et al, 2020), distributors are usually willing to help focal manufacturers with new technology information, market knowledge and consumer behaviors in a voluntary way. Moreover, as distributors are the only vertical stakeholders that are closely associated with both focal manufacturers and terminal retail markets in practice (Figure 1), they can offer downstream strategic orientation about marketing strategies and information about advanced technologies to focal manufacturers’ upstream FFE strategies to make the NPD process more feasible according to the mutual understanding of firm governance, credibility, dedication and channel dependence from their extra-role behaviors (Kim et al, 2011; Ling-Yee, 2010; Sandberg, 2020). Thus, we believe distributors’ extra-role behaviors of strategic orientating capabilities will help focal manufacturing firms with FFE innovation in the NPD process in this study.…”

“…Zhang and Doll (2001) and Zhang et al (2019) suggested that strategic orientation is one of the FFE mechanisms along with other internal and external FFE activities to establish NPD project targets and priorities that reduce uncertainties by using competitive intelligence. Strategic orientation formulates the holistic premises of direction, decisions and beliefs about FFE strategies (Adams et al, 2019; Hakala, 2011; Sandberg, 2020; Zhang et al, 2019). Therefore, all FFE activity executions should be followed by the integral frame of strategy orientation to purposefully innovate under the established long-term strategic goals for greater NPD performance.…”

Art Thinking: Amplifying the ‘R’ in R&D

“…Most examples for collaborations between R&D and artists occur in the development stage, when members of creative industries receive grants and are invited to join hubs, labs, panels or teams for open innovation as with Google, Meta, and Adobe. A handful of companies such as Xerox, Intel, Autodesk, Nokia Bell Labs, Vodafone, Microsoft, and Bosch pioneered and embedded artists into their R&D organisations (Sandberg, 2020). However, most of these programs had a limited scope and a short half-life.…”

Front-end of innovation: a systematic review and lifecycle analysis

“…Knowledge management is relevant to the FEI since it depends on information to support decisions and ideation (Massey et al, 2002;Song et al, 2007;Harvey et al, 2015). Technology management and R&D clarify that the FEI embraces both technology and product development ideas and decisions (Russell and Tippett, 2008;Brem and Voigt, 2009;Gonzalez, 2014;Sandberg, 2020).…”

“…, 2015). Technology management and R&D clarify that the FEI embraces both technology and product development ideas and decisions (Russell and Tippett, 2008; Brem and Voigt, 2009; Gonzalez, 2014; Sandberg, 2020).…”