Abstract
The practice of collaborative innovation promises added benefits for the concerned stakeholders based on the capacity that the product of the knowledge, experience, and skills shared by the collaborating parties outweighs the sum of all the inputs. However, collaborations also carry the challenge associated with leadership, which is often established through informal influence. The paper presents the best practices for impactful informal leadership in collaborative innovation networks in project execution. The research is based on expert interviews with European start-ups, SMEs, large enterprises, and universities. The findings and recommendations focus on enhancing the impact of the innovative solutions once they are institutionalised in the organisations. The impact generally leverages the consequence of informal leadership, a naturally occurring phenomenon, emphasising the variability and reciprocity of leading, the meaning of strategic goals, and investing in human relations, and deeply contributing to the transition towards Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0.
The work is supported by The Foundation for Economic Education, Huittinen Savings Bank Foundation, and Nissi Foundation, Finland. This research has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union within the OpenInnoTrain project under grant agreement no. 823971. The content of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the publication lies entirely with the author(s).
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Leino, T., Veledar, O., Macher, G., Volpe, M., Armengaud, E., Koivunen, N. (2022). Impact Maximisation of Collaborative Projects Through Informal Leadership. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Ortiz, A., Boucher, X., Osório, A.L. (eds) Collaborative Networks in Digitalization and Society 5.0. PRO-VE 2022. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 662. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14844-6_10
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