Regional Challenges and possibilities - Innovation and value creation in business networks (RECIN)

Regional Challenges and possibilities - Innovation and value creation in business networks (RECIN). This project is led by Østfoldforskning and performed in cooperation with Møreforsking, Vestlandsforsking, Sogn og Fjordane, BI Rogaland, Polytec, Østfold University College and BI the Norwegian School of Business in Oslo. The project will look at how corporate participation in selected networks and clusters in four Norwegian regions; Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Rogaland, and Østfold, contribute to knowledge, innovation and value creation for the involved companies. The project focuses on four themes. The first theme is studying what are the similarities, specificities and relationships between different types of business networks. Identification, definition and description of the various business networks will be carried out and used as basis for the further on the case studies in the project. The second theme is how global and international interactions affect innovations in each company and their interaction with the regional network. The research will focus on how innovation processes in enterprises is influenced by international trends, a globally dispersed organizational structure and/or multicultural staff. The third theme focuses on the regional conditions for the networks. This work will focus on identifying and analyzing regional conditions, and analyze the drivers and barriers in and around the network and the operation thereof. Drivers and barriers will be analyzed in relation to various functions related to the network. The fourth theme is how participation in both new and mature (international, national and regional) business network affects the individual company. How do the single firms develop and utilize knowledge and learning that originated from external interactions (global, national and regional) to its own innovation and development? Work on the four topics will be summarized and used to give insight into the overall problem statement

RECIN shall contribute to the VRI programme's goal by investigating and generating knowledge about how interactions with different types of networks contribute to knowledge generation, innovation and value creation for the firms. Furthermore, the aim is to investigate and increase the knowledge about how publicly funded network construction programmes can stimulate and facilitate network based innovation. The research will focus on three perspectives: (1) the global/international perspectives, (2) the regional perspective and (3) the firm perceptive. The similarities and differences between these perspectives and the relations between them are a particular focus area. A framework for network analysis, network building and network based innovation will be tested through the empirical investigations. It is our goal to further develop and validate this framework as a valuable asset in ongoing (regional) innovation networks. Empirical investigations will be undertaken in parallel in nine different networks in four different regions in Norway: Møre & Romsdal, Sogn & Fjordane, Rogaland and Østfold. Theoretical contributions are expected related to networked based innovation in general and how conscious bridging of external and internal interactions can contribute to knowledge generation, innovation and value creation for the firms. In addition, it is our goal to contribute to both practice and theory building about the role and relevance of publicly funded network initiatives for innovation purposes. We expect the findings to have practical implication for national and regional policy making as well as regional policy implementation. The cross-regional and cross-institutional work in this project and the results of it will form a platform for developing stronger national research milieus across institutional borders.