Scenarios, Shared Understanding, and Group Decision Support to Foster Innovation Networks

Collaborative innovation is a dynamic process that involves diverse individuals and organizations pooling resources and working together to develop new ideas, products, or services. Successful collaboration in networked innovation projects is challenging due to the need to cross the knowledge boundaries that exist between organizations, disciplines, and cognitive frames. This paper proposes an approach aimed at facilitating knowledge mobilization and fostering learning in the intricate landscape of networked innovation projects. Stored in a shared repository, scenarios serve as a foundation for collaborative processes, guiding participants toward a shared understanding and the construction of mutual meaning. A pivotal aspect of this approach is the inclusive engagement of Stakeholders in a collaborative decision-making process of scenario ranking that includes identifying and negotiating comparison criteria. Although the approach is presented with examples in the domain of agriculture, where validation of the constituent elements took place, its adaptability renders it domain-independent offering a robust framework for collaborative innovation across various sectors.