New approaches and more impact on societal challenges

February 2018 - Innovation in digital products and services is often dependent on leveraging knowledge on a global scale, fostering an ecosystem of complementary artefacts and accounting for yet unknown uses and practices. For such reasons, it has become widely accepted that the inclusion of external stakeholders early on in the innovation process is an important source of competitive advantage for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) firms. Many succesful ICT companies are said to have adopted open R&D and open innovation strategies. The idea that users should also be included in this has been stressed by various scholars and practitioners, even though the degree to which this is feasible and effective, is still intensely debated. So-called ‘living labs’ are one of the most prominent tools to have been developed for such user-centric innovation of ICTs.

January 2018 - IDEA Consult were members of the Panel who conducted the very first assessment of the European Commission SME-Instrument (SME-I) Phase II awardees on behalf of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). The report provides a quantitative assessment of Phase II awardees and presents a total of 8 case studies, showcasing the SME-Instrument's contribution towards innovative companies in Europe.

September 2017 - A survey amongst 1,000 Flemish citizens revealed, among others that one in 10 persons between the ages of 18 and 75 years had offered the use of or made use of something via the sharing economy over the past 12 months. IDEA advised the Flemish authorities about their role in the rapidly growing sharing economy.

September 2017 - The impact of digitisation - lowering communication costs and outreach - as well as the cultural shift of people wanting to connect more meaningfully with things they do, has made crowdfunding an increasingly popular method of fundraising and community building. Crowdfunding has witnessed a significant increase in Europe in recent years. This study examines to what extent crowdfunding is being used in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS) in Europe.