Placing physical proximity at the heart of innovation processes, collaborative innovation spaces (CISs) have developed strongly during the last 20 years. However, this priority given to physical space is coming up against a paradoxical reality, as remote working has accelerated sharply since the COVID-19 health crisis and innovation collaborations within companies are also becoming increasingly virtual and asynchronous. Against this backdrop, this research aims to answer the following research questions: How has the place assigned to the physical space within CISs changed since the recent pandemic? How have organizations integrated digital spaces into CISs to successfully carry out collaborative innovation projects? An exploratory qualitative approach based on a comparative study of six different types of CISs (intra-organizational and interorganizational) highlights three main findings. First, physical space (structure and infrastructure) remains essential for all types of CISs, as it is the only factor capable of generating the physical proximity required to establish a relationship of trust between members. Second, digital spaces prove to be complementary to physical space in intra-organizational CISs, whose members benefit from organizational proximity. Third, our findings emphasize the primacy of facilitation over the spaces themselves, with facilitation even taking place outside the innovation labs.

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Physical Spaces, Digital Spaces, and Facilitation: The Winning Triptych for Collaborative Innovation Spaces in the Post-COVID-19 Era

  • Emilie Donadon,
  • Catherine Thévenard-Puthod,
  • Anne Berthinier-Poncet

摘要

Placing physical proximity at the heart of innovation processes, collaborative innovation spaces (CISs) have developed strongly during the last 20 years. However, this priority given to physical space is coming up against a paradoxical reality, as remote working has accelerated sharply since the COVID-19 health crisis and innovation collaborations within companies are also becoming increasingly virtual and asynchronous. Against this backdrop, this research aims to answer the following research questions: How has the place assigned to the physical space within CISs changed since the recent pandemic? How have organizations integrated digital spaces into CISs to successfully carry out collaborative innovation projects? An exploratory qualitative approach based on a comparative study of six different types of CISs (intra-organizational and interorganizational) highlights three main findings. First, physical space (structure and infrastructure) remains essential for all types of CISs, as it is the only factor capable of generating the physical proximity required to establish a relationship of trust between members. Second, digital spaces prove to be complementary to physical space in intra-organizational CISs, whose members benefit from organizational proximity. Third, our findings emphasize the primacy of facilitation over the spaces themselves, with facilitation even taking place outside the innovation labs.