Collaborative Innovation Networks
Encyclopedia
A Collaborative Innovation Network, or CoIN, is a social construct used to describe innovative teams. It has been defined by the originator of the term, Peter Gloor (a Research Scientist
at MIT Sloan's Center for Collective Intelligence
) as "a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by the Web to collaborate in achieving a common goal by sharing ideas, information, and work."
COINs feature internal transparency and direct communication. Members of a COIN collaborate and share knowledge directly with each other, rather than through hierarchies. They come together with a shared vision because they are intrinsically motivated to do so and seek to collaborate in some way to advance an idea.
The five essential elements of collaborative innovation networks (what Gloor calls their "genetic code") are as follows:
COINs rely on modern technology such as the Internet
, e-mail
, and other communications vehicles for information sharing. Creativity, collaboration, and communication are their hallmarks.
COINs existed well before modern communication technology enabled their creation and development. Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper, in their book, describe Benjamin Franklin's
"Junto" organization in Philadelphia as a COIN paradigm. Franklin brought together people with diverse backgrounds, from varying occupations, but of like mind to share knowledge and promulgate innovation.
Similar is the concept of the "Self-Organizing Innovation Network" which have been described by one author, Robert Rycroft of the Elliott School of International Affairs
of George Washington University
as follows:
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
at MIT Sloan's Center for Collective Intelligence
Collective intelligence
Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
) as "a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by the Web to collaborate in achieving a common goal by sharing ideas, information, and work."
COINs feature internal transparency and direct communication. Members of a COIN collaborate and share knowledge directly with each other, rather than through hierarchies. They come together with a shared vision because they are intrinsically motivated to do so and seek to collaborate in some way to advance an idea.
The five essential elements of collaborative innovation networks (what Gloor calls their "genetic code") are as follows:
- Evolve from learning networks
- Feature sound ethical principles
- Based on trust and self-organizationSelf-organizationSelf-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears in a system without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning...
- Make knowledge accessible to everyone
- Operate in internal honesty and transparency
COINs rely on modern technology such as the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, and other communications vehicles for information sharing. Creativity, collaboration, and communication are their hallmarks.
COINs existed well before modern communication technology enabled their creation and development. Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper, in their book, describe Benjamin Franklin's
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
"Junto" organization in Philadelphia as a COIN paradigm. Franklin brought together people with diverse backgrounds, from varying occupations, but of like mind to share knowledge and promulgate innovation.
Similar is the concept of the "Self-Organizing Innovation Network" which have been described by one author, Robert Rycroft of the Elliott School of International Affairs
Elliott School of International Affairs
The Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University is a professional school in international relations. It is located in the heart of Washington, D.C...
of George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
as follows:
Examples
An example of the COIN idea at work may be SpineConnect, a community of spine surgeons interacting in a variety of ways, ultimately with the goal of producing innovation. It cannot be stated with certainty that the group had its genesis as a COIN, but it does illustrate some of the concepts. Starting out as a knowledge sharing community, enabling surgeons from around the world to share difficult and unusual cases, it quickly emerged as a community to produce innovation collaboratively. Since its launch in October 2005, the surgeons have used SpineConnect to produce original research and take their ideas and create patents. As the community matures, more ambitious goals are being pursued, such as creating a better classification system of disease for spine.Challenges
As COINs become increasingly popular among governments and corporations, the ethical, financial, economic, and cognitive issues which drive incentives will inevitably face challenges. Over time potential innovators may be unwilling to participate in projects merely on the basis of implied financial gain. As globalization begins to impact traditional models of planned social progress, the broader political context in which participants cooperate has become more relevant lately. This suggests an increased need for independent parties to collaborate on the basis of agreed upon principles and objectives, ultimately this could encompass the interests of humanity and the emergence of a global culture.See also
- InnovationInnovationInnovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
- Knowledge engineeringKnowledge engineeringKnowledge engineering was defined in 1983 by Edward Feigenbaum, and Pamela McCorduck as follows:At present, it refers to the building, maintaining and development of knowledge-based systems...
- Knowledge managementKnowledge managementKnowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
- Semantic webSemantic WebThe Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of... - Game theoryGame theoryGame theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
- Systems theorySystems theorySystems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
- Group theoryGroup theoryIn mathematics and abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups.The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and...
- Chaos theoryChaos theoryChaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
- Network theoryNetwork theoryNetwork theory is an area of computer science and network science and part of graph theory. It has application in many disciplines including statistical physics, particle physics, computer science, biology, economics, operations research, and sociology... - Complex systemsComplex systemsComplex systems present problems in mathematical modelling.The equations from which complex system models are developed generally derive from statistical physics, information theory and non-linear dynamics, and represent organized but unpredictable behaviors of systems of nature that are considered...
- Human ecosystemHuman ecosystemHuman ecosystems are complex cybernetic systems that are increasingly being used by ecological anthropologists and other scholars to examine the ecological aspects of human communities in a way that integrates multiple factors as economics, socio-political organization, psychological factors, and...
- TeleonomyTeleonomyTeleonomy is the quality of apparent purposefulness and of goal-directedness of structures and functions in living organisms that derive from their evolutionary history, adaptation for reproductive success, or generally, due to the operation of a program....
- Nonlinear systems - Self-organizationSelf-organizationSelf-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears in a system without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning... - LibertarianismLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
- MutualismMutualism (economic theory)Mutualism is an anarchist school of thought that originates in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market...
- PraxeologyPraxeologyPraxeology is the study of human action. Praxeology rejects the empirical methods of the natural sciences for the study of human action, because the observation of how humans act in simple situations cannot predict how they will act in complex situations...
- PanarchyPanarchyPanarchy is a conceptual term first coined by the Belgian botanist and economist Paul Emile de Puydt in 1860, referring to a specific form of governance that would encompass all others. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the noun as "chiefly poetic" with the meaning "a universal realm," citing... - CyberneticsCyberneticsCybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
- Augmented Group CognitionAugmented Group CognitionAn extension of research into intelligence amplification and augmented cognition in individuals, augmented group cognition allows for knowledge to be created, consumed, and exchanged among group members in alignment with their current workload, stress levels, emotional state, and other cognitive...
- Intelligence amplificationIntelligence amplificationIntelligence amplification refers to the effective use of information technology in augmenting human intelligence... - General theory of collaborationGeneral theory of collaborationfor detailed steps and processes used in progressive business, academic and creative groups see collaborative method.-General theories:By explaining more phenomena, with increased economy, a general theory provides more scientific power...
- Collective intelligenceCollective intelligenceCollective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
- PolytelyPolytelyPolytely can be described as frequently, complex problem-solving situations characterized by the presence of not one, but several goals, endings.Modern societies face an increasing incidence of various complex problems...
- Koinontely - Global Information GridGlobal Information GridThe Global Information Grid is an all-encompassing communications project of the United States Department of Defense.It is defined as a "globally interconnected, end-to-end set of information capabilities for collecting, processing, storing, disseminating, and managing information on demand to...
- Information Routing GroupInformation Routing GroupAn Information Routing Group is a component of social networks consisting of a semi-infinite set of similar interlocking and overlapping groups...
- Open politics - Symbolic interactionismSymbolic interactionismSymbolic Interaction, also known as interactionism, is a sociological theory that places emphasis on micro-scale social interaction to provide subjective meaning in human behavior, the social process and pragmatism.-History:...
External links
- fido ('fearless innovation designed online') - collaborative innovation system
- Ethical Issues in Collaborative Innovation Networks by Peter A. Gloor, Carey Heckman, & Fillia Makedon.
- "Self-Organizing Innovation Network"
- "Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams"
- "Transforming Government Through Collaborative Innovation"
- "The Future of Work"
- "Global University System with Globally Collaborative Innovation Network"
- "Network Plasticity and Collaborative Innovation"