Publication Ii: Managing Uncertainty In The Front End Of Radical Innovation Development

The management of uncertainty in the development of radical technological innovations has been studied with a focus in the fuzzy front end stage of innovation development process. The development of innovations, which will be new to the company or even new to the world, is always very challenging and risky because of uncertainty in many aspects of the development and commercialisation processes. Tools and procedures used for the management of incremental innovation development, exploiting current lines of business, may not give much help in the case where one aims to deliver a product, process or service with unprecedented performance features.In this paper an opportunity and risk management based assessment model is proposed for the management of uncertainty in the front end of radical technological innovation. The core for the uncertainty management is the modelling of front end activities where five elements were identified: opportunity identification, opportunity analysis, idea generation and enrichment, idea selection, and concept definition. Other elements important in the uncertainty management include strategy, corporate culture, and networking. Important decision points were identified at opportunity analysis, idea selection, networking and at the gate preceding product development stage. Special attention was paid to the development of tools and procedures for the uncertainty management at these important decision points. For examples, the tools include a new tool called Opportunity Balance Matrix and a new application of a known method called Potential Problem Analysis. The developed tools and procedures' support decision making already at early phases of the front end work. Early decision making and upper management support can give effective guidance for the remaining front end work and make effective use of resources possible throughout the innovation process. All the uncertainty management actions will increase the possibility of successful product launch in the future.The model for the uncertainty management has been applied in a few conceptualization cases at different companies and industries.. In this paper examples of uncertainty management at the front end work of the Center for Printed Intelligence at VTT are given.