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Showing papers by "Aalto University published in 2006"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A cross-cultural validation of an Internet consumer trust model is reported on, which examined both antecedents and consequences of consumer trust in a Web merchant and provides tentative support for the generalizability of the model.
Abstract: Many have speculated that trust plays a critical role in stimulating consumer purchases over the Internet. Most of the speculations have rallied around U.S. consumers purchasing from U.S.–based online merchants. The global nature of the Internet raises questions about the robustness of trust effects across cultures. Culture may also affect the antecedents of consumer trust; that is, consumers in different cultures might have differing expectations of what makes a web merchant trustworthy. Here we report on a cross-cultural validation of an Internet consumer trust model. The model examined both antecedents and consequences of consumer trust in a Web merchant. The results provide tentative support for the generalizability of the model.

1,684 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors decompose total customer value as perceived by department store shoppers into utilitarian, hedonic and social dimensions, and empirically test this conceptualization in a Finnish department store shopping context.
Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to decompose total customer value as perceived by department store shoppers into utilitarian, hedonic and social dimensions, and empirically test this conceptualization in a Finnish department store shopping context., – Data were collected by a questionnaire administered over three days at a department store that generates the second largest turnover in Finland. A total of 364 shoppers completed the questionnaire., – Empirical evidence supports our tripartite conceptualization of total customer value. In particular, social value is an independent construct. Further, social value varies by day‐of‐week, with a significant increase on Saturday (versus weekdays) when the store is more crowded, whereas no such differences in utilitarian and hedonic values were detected., – The principal contribution is a tripartite conceptualization of total customer value that incorporates utilitarian, social and hedonic value dimensions in a department store shopping context. Individually these dimensions are all well rooted in streams of consumer behavior literature, albeit mostly at the product or brand, not the store, level. Increasing our understanding of these softer aspects of shopping, particularly the social dimension, is important because they represent possible differentiating factors in the highly competitive and often commoditized retail markets.

475 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical discourse analysis of extensive media coverage of a revolutionary pulp and paper sector merger is presented, which distinguishes and analyzes five legitimation strategies: normalization, authorization, rationalization, moralization, and narrativization.
Abstract: Despite the central role of legitimacy in social and organizational life, we know little of the subtle meaning-making processes through which organizational phenomena, such as industrial restructuring, are legitimated in contemporary society. Therefore, this paper examines the discursive legitimation strategies used when making sense of global industrial restructuring in the media. Based on a critical discourse analysis of extensive media coverage of a revolutionary pulp and paper sector merger, we distinguish and analyze five legitimation strategies: (1) normalization, (2) authorization, (3) rationalization, (4) moralization, and (5) narrativization. We argue that while these specific legitimation strategies appear in individual texts, their recurring use in the intertextual totality of the public discussion establishes the core elements of the emerging legitimating discourse.

463 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: A design science research process (DSRP) model that would meet three objectives: it would be consistent with prior literature, provide a nominal process model for doing DS research, and provide a mental model for presenting and appreciating DS research in IS is designed and demonstrated.
Abstract: The authors design and demonstrate a process for carrying out design science (DS) research in information systems and demonstrate use of the process to conduct research in two case studies. Several IS researchers have pioneered the acceptance of DS research in IS, but in the last 15 years little DS research has been done within the discipline. The lack of a generally accepted process for DS research in IS may have contributed to this problem. We sought to design a design science research process (DSRP) model that would meet three objectives: it would be consistent with prior literature, it would provide a nominal process model for doing DS research, and it would provide a mental model for presenting and appreciating DS research in IS. The process includes six steps: problem identification and motivation, objectives for a solution, design and development, evaluation, and communication. We demonstrated the process by using it in this study and by presenting two case studies, one in IS planning to develop application ideas for mobile financial services and another in requirements engineering to specify feature requirements for a self service advertising design and sales system intended for wide audience end users. The process effectively satisfies the three objectives and has the potential to help aid the acceptance of DS research in the IS discipline.

422 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A double dissociation in response adaptation to sound pairs with phonetic vs. spatial sound changes is found, demonstrating that the human nonprimary auditory cortex indeed processes speech-sound identity and location in parallel anterior “what” and posterior “where” pathways.
Abstract: Human neuroimaging studies suggest that localization and identification of relevant auditory objects are accomplished via parallel parietal-to-lateral-prefrontal “where” and anterior-temporal-to-inferior-frontal “what” pathways, respectively. Using combined hemodynamic (functional MRI) and electromagnetic (magnetoencephalography) measurements, we investigated whether such dual pathways exist already in the human nonprimary auditory cortex, as suggested by animal models, and whether selective attention facilitates sound localization and identification by modulating these pathways in a feature-specific fashion. We found a double dissociation in response adaptation to sound pairs with phonetic vs. spatial sound changes, demonstrating that the human nonprimary auditory cortex indeed processes speech-sound identity and location in parallel anterior “what” (in anterolateral Heschl’s gyrus, anterior superior temporal gyrus, and posterior planum polare) and posterior “where” (in planum temporale and posterior superior temporal gyrus) pathways as early as ≈70–150 ms from stimulus onset. Our data further show that the “where” pathway is activated ≈30 ms earlier than the “what” pathway, possibly enabling the brain to use top-down spatial information in auditory object perception. Notably, selectively attending to phonetic content modulated response adaptation in the “what” pathway, whereas attending to sound location produced analogous effects in the “where” pathway. This finding suggests that selective-attention effects are feature-specific in the human nonprimary auditory cortex and that they arise from enhanced tuning of receptive fields of task-relevant neuronal populations.

341 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Playing against another human elicited higher spatial presence, engagement, anticipated threat, post-game challenge appraisals, and physiological arousal, as well as more positively valenced emotional responses, compared to playing against a stranger.
Abstract: The authors examined whether the nature of the opponent (computer, friend, or stranger) influences spatial presence, emotional responses, and threat and challenge appraisals when playing video games. In a within-subjects design, participants played two different video games against a computer, a friend, and a stranger. In addition to self-report ratings, cardiac interbeat intervals (IBIs) and facial electromyography (EMG) were measured to index physiological arousal and emotional valence. When compared to playing against a computer, playing against another human elicited higher spatial presence, engagement, anticipated threat, post-game challenge appraisals, and physiological arousal, as well as more positively valenced emotional responses. In addition, playing against a friend elicited greater spatial presence, engagement, and self-reported and physiological arousal, as well as more positively valenced facial EMG responses, compared to playing against a stranger. The nature of the opponent influences spatial presence when playing video games, possibly through the mediating influence on arousal and attentional processes.

338 citations


Book
24 May 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, Qualitative Marketing Research unpacks the emerging cultural approach in the field of marketing and consumer research and provides an interesting and informed study for anyone interested in cultural approaches to economic and social theory.
Abstract: Aimed at both graduate and undergraduate students majoring in business administration and in other fields of social sciences, Qualitative Marketing Research unpacks the emerging cultural approach in the field of marketing and consumer research and provides an interesting and informed study for anyone interested in cultural approaches to economic and social theory. The book also provides insights for MBA students and other business professionals who work in the field of marketing, advertising, media planning and qualitative market research, offering methodological resources for keeping professional skills up to date and help with designing and conducting relevant and skillful market research which is sensitive to the cultural dynamics of the marketplace behaviour.

314 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a value typology, clarifying the complex character of value, is constructed, together with suggestions on how the question of value creation can be framed, and the matching of customers' and suppliers' perspectives is discussed by developing a framework depicting the business-to-business marketing types.

292 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Irja Hyväri1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the critical success/failure factors in project management and examine the relationships between critical success factors and organizational back-growth and organization back-gathering.
Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the critical success/failure factors in project management and to examine the relationships between critical success factors and organizational backgro...

273 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the use of foreign languages in qualitative interviewing, an issue previously treated as a mere technical consideration and largely neglected in the monolingual, English-dominated environment of international business research.
Abstract: In this paper, we explore the use of foreign languages in qualitative interviewing, an issue previously treated as a mere technical consideration and largely neglected in the monolingual, English-dominated environment of international business research. Drawing on literature from linguistic anthropology and qualitative interviewing methodology, we provide a holistic view of foreign language use based on the experiences of 34 scholars from different countries.

269 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Experiments clearly show that the new encodings in this paper improve performance of BMC con- siderably, particularly in the case of the incremental encoding, and that they are very competitive for finding bugs.
Abstract: We consider the problem of bounded model checking (BMC) for linear tempo- ral logic (LTL). We present several efficient encodings that have size linear in the bound. Furthermore, we show how the encodings can be extended to LTL with past operators (PLTL). The generalised encoding is still of linear size, but cannot detect minimal length counterexamples. By using the virtual unrolling technique minimal length counterexam- ples can be captured, however, the size of the encoding is quadratic in the specification. We also extend virtual unrolling to Buchi automata, enabling them to accept minimal length counterexamples. Our BMC encodings can be made incremental in order to benefit from incremental SAT technology. With fairly small modifications the incremental encoding can be further enhanced with a termination check, allowing us to prove properties with BMC. An analysis of the liveness-to-safety transformation reveals many similarities to the BMC encodings in this paper. We conduct experiments to determine the advantage of em- ploying dedicated BMC encodings for PLTL over combining more general but potentially less efficient approaches with BMC: the liveness-to-safety t with invariant checking and Buchi automata with fair cycle detection. Experiments clearly show that our new encodings improve performance of BMC con- siderably, particularly in the case of the incremental encoding, and that they are very competitive for finding bugs. Dedicated encodings seem to have an advantage over using more general methods with BMC. Using the liveness-to-safety translation with BDD-based invariant checking results in an efficient method to find shortest counterexamples that com- plements the BMC-based approach. For proving complex properties BDD-based methods still tend to perform better.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the use of common corporate language(s) in multinational corporations (MNCs) and uncover discrepancies between company policy and employee practices with regard to language use.
Abstract: – This paper seeks to explore the use of common corporate language(s) in multinational corporations (MNCs). These organizations are usually multilingual and characterized by high language diversity. Parallel streams of literature in international management and international business communications are built upon to problematize the notion of a common corporate language., – Information gathered from 36 personal interviews of the German‐based multinational Siemens is the primary source of data for this case study. The interviews were conducted in three different languages in three different organizational units of Siemens AG in Finland and Germany., – It was possible to identify powerful interplay between two languages – German and English – and to uncover discrepancies between company policy and employee practices with regard to language use. On the basis of these findings, the challenges of managing language in multinationals are discussed., – Argues that a common corporate language may not be as widely shared within the firm as the term suggests, given the multilingual nature of most multinationals, variation in the language proficiency of their employees, and the level of analysis used in previous research.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined emotional valence and arousal-related phasic psychophysiological responses to different video game events among 36 young adults who played Super Monkey Ball 2 (Sega Corporation, Tokyo, Japan).
Abstract: We examined emotional valence- and arousal-related phasic psychophysiological responses to different video game events among 36 young adults who played Super Monkey Ball 2 (Sega Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). Event-related changes in zygomaticus major, corrugator supercilii, and orbicularis oculi electromyographic activity, skin conductance level, and cardiac interbeat intervals were recorded. Instantaneous game events elicited reliable psychophysiological responses indexing valence and arousal. A largely linear, positive dose-response relationship between rewards obtained in the game and phasic increases in arousal was revealed. The valence of the emotional response varied as a function of the player's active participation (active coping). In addition, not only positive events, but also some putatively negative events elicited positively valenced arousal. The findings extend our understanding of the phasic changes in the emotional state during video games and a dynamic flow of events and action and may have...

Proceedings ArticleDOI
26 Jun 2006
TL;DR: This paper examines the state of the art in involving the user and stakeholder organisations into the innovation process in various ongoing, embryonic Living Labs initiatives, examines the key practices that need to be in place for the maturation of the concept and gives examples on how those are currently being deployed.
Abstract: Living Labs are an emerging Public Private Partnership (PPP) concept in which firms, public authorities and citizens work together to create, prototype, validate and test new services, businesses, markets and technologies in real-life contexts, such as cities, city regions, rural areas and collaborative virtual networks between public and private players. The real-life and everyday life contexts will both stimulate and challenge research and development as public authorities and citizens will not only participate in, but also contribute to the whole innovation process. This paper examines the state-of-the art in involving the user and stakeholder organisations into the innovation process in various ongoing, embryonic Living Labs initiatives, examines the key practices that need to be in place for the maturation of the concept and gives examples on how those are currently being deployed. The paper concludes with a section dedicated to identifying areas in which future research is required.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A synchronous variant of the NIMBUS method, which can handle versatile types of multiobjective optimization problems and includes new desirable features increasing its user-friendliness is described.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of knowledge in intentionally created business networks called nets is discussed and the types of knowledge and learning required in the management of different types of business net are dependent on the value creation characteristics of the net types.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the role of knowledge in intentionally created business networks called nets. Nets are seen to offer firms collective benefits beyond those of a single firm or market transaction. We propose that the types of knowledge and learning required in the management of different types of business net are dependent on the value creation characteristics of the net types. Based on this we suggest a classification of three generic net types –‘current business nets’, ‘business renewal nets’, and ‘emerging new business nets’– and argue that they pose different conditions for management in nets. Using this framework and integrating notions from the industrial network approach, strategic management and dynamic capabilities view, and organizational learning we make a number of observations and propositions about the role of knowledge and learning in the three types of business net. The paper contributes to the emerging theory of network management.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined Born Global companies, which are facing tremendous entrepreneurial and managerial challenges related to instant or rapid globalization, and examined the globalization and global marketing strategies of Born Globals through a multiple case study of 30 case companies representing the above development stages.
Abstract: This research examines Born Global companies, which are facing tremendous entrepreneurial and managerial challenges related to instant or rapid globalization. A major research problem addressed is whether the strategies and processes of Born Globals differ essentially from those of other firms in respect to globalization and global marketing. Based on a literature analysis, we first examine the concept of Born Globals and then turn to a review of the research dealing with the globalization and marketing strategies of Born Globals. Survey results on 89 Finnish Born Globals from high-tech, high-design, high-service, high-know-how, and high-system business areas are presented. Their domestic stage lasts for an average of only 2.1 years. For conventional companies, the period is ten times longer. Furthermore, Born Globals can be classified on the basis of their development into three preliminary stages (research & development [RD], domestic, and entry) and into four major stages (starting, development, growth, and mature). The study then proceeds to examine the globalization and global marketing strategies of Born Globals through a multiple case study of 30 case companies representing the above development stages. Special attention is paid to the mature Born Globals, which were found to have passed quickly through the conventional internationalization stages, jumped over some stages, and, in some cases, even progressed in reverse order. After this, attention turns to a detailed examination of the challenges identified and their solutions for three particular interest groups: entrepreneurs, government policymakers, and academicians. The implications of the results for entrepreneurs should be of particular importance, as managerial, research and development, sales and marketing, and also financial challenges and solutions are covered in detail. Finally, this research concludes that although many of the Born Global findings deviate from the internationalization behavior of conventional companies, the holistic and company-level stage models still seem to have a high degree of explanatory power for many companies originating in small and open economies (SMOPEC). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
04 Jan 2006
TL;DR: It is suggested that traditional adoption models should be augmented with the use situation and mobility constructs to better understand and explain the specific factors, which determine the use of mobile services.
Abstract: This paper presents results from a study of mobile ticketing service acceptance in public transportation. The theoretical background of the study was drawn from technology acceptance and diffusion of innovation theories, which were augmented with issues related to mobile service features, as well as the mobile use situation. The resulting research model was tested with data gathered through a self-administered mail survey with 360 subjects. Our findings suggest that usefulness and benefits of the mobile ticketing service are perceived differently in different use situations and that use situation has a significant effect on use intention. The results indicate that traditional adoption models should be augmented with the use situation and mobility constructs to better understand and explain the specific factors, which determine the use of mobile services.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An infinitely-repeated oligopoly in which firms not only serve the spot market by either competing in prices or quantities but also have the opportunity to trade forward contracts is considered, it is found that the possibility of forward trading allows firms to sustain collusive profits that otherwise would not be possible.

Posted Content
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the role that two psychological attributes, sensation seeking and overconfidence, play in the tendency of investors to trade stocks and found that overconfident investors and those investors most prone to sensation seeking trade more frequently.
Abstract: This study analyzes the role that two psychological attributes%u2014sensation seeking and overconfidence%u2014play in the tendency of investors to trade stocks. Equity trading data are combined with data from an investor%u2019s tax filings, driving record, and psychological profile. We use the data to construct measures of overconfidence and sensation seeking tendencies. Controlling for a host of variables, including wealth, income, age, number of stocks owned, marital status, and occupation, we find that overconfident investors and those investors most prone to sensation seeking trade more frequently.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship and differences between emotion perceived and emotion felt (i.e., the individual's emotional response to music) and found that the affect ratings were significantly moderated by the point of view from which the emotions were assessed.
Abstract: The goal of the present study was to examine the relationships and differences between emotion perceived (i.e., the emotional quality expressed by music) and emotion felt (i.e., the individual's emotional response to music). Thirty-two participants listened to 12 music pieces differing in terms of a priori basic emotional quality, and rated the music from two points of view (i.e., emotion felt and emotion perceived) using 16 adjectives from dimensional models of emotion. As expected, in general, music seemed to arouse emotions similar to the emotional quality perceived in music. However, the affect ratings were significantly moderated by the point of view from which the emotions were assessed. Felt emotions were stronger than perceived emotions in connection with pleasure, but weaker in connection with arousal, positive activation, and negative activation. As also expected, negative perceived quality in music elicited less or an opposite felt emotion. That is, fearful music was perceived as negati...

Journal ArticleDOI
Irja Hyväri1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the effectiveness of project management in terms of organizational structures, technical competency, leadership ability and the characteristics of an effective project manager and find that planning/organizing, networking and informing are the most significant managerial practices in the leadership behavior of project managers.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the design, synthesis, morphology, phase behavior, and mechanical properties of semicrystalline, polyolefin-based block copolymers were reported, and the volume fraction and composition of the blocks, as well as the overall size of the macromolecules, were controlled by sequential synthesis of each block of the polymers.
Abstract: We report the design, synthesis, morphology, phase behavior, and mechanical properties of semicrystalline, polyolefin-based block copolymers. By using living, stereoselective insertion polymerization catalysts, syndiotactic polypropylene-block-poly(ethylene-co-propylene)-block-syndiotactic polypropylene and isotactic polypropylene-block-regioirregular polypropylene-block-isotactic polypropylene triblock copolymers were synthesized. The volume fraction and composition of the blocks, as well as the overall size of the macromolecules, were controlled by sequential synthesis of each block of the polymers. These triblock copolymers, with semicrystalline end-blocks and mid-segments with low glass-transition temperatures, show significant potential as thermoplastic elastomers. They have low Young's moduli, large strains at break, and better than 90% elastic recovery at strains of 100% or less. An isotactic polypropylene-block-regioirregular polypropylene-block-isotactic polypropylene-block-regioirregular polypropylene-block-isotactic polypropylene pentablock copolymer was synthesized that also shows exceptional elastomeric properties. Notably, microphase separation is not necessary in the semicrystalline isotactic polypropylenes to achieve good mechanical performance, unlike commercial styrenic thermoplastic elastomers.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that the stiffness of the polymer does not change the scaling behavior of translocation dynamics for single-segment dynamics, and tau has a minimum as a function of L for longer chains when the radius of gyration along the pore direction R( parallel) approximately L.
Abstract: We investigate the problem of polymer translocation through a nanopore in the absence of an external driving force. To this end, we use the two-dimensional fluctuating bond model with single-segment Monte Carlo moves. To overcome the entropic barrier without artificial restrictions, we consider a polymer which is initially placed in the middle of the pore and study the escape time τ required for the polymer to completely exit the pore on either end. We find numerically that τ scales with the chain length N as τ∼N1+2ν, where ν is the Flory exponent. This is the same scaling as predicted for the translocation time of a polymer which passes through the nanopore in one direction only. We examine the interplay between the pore length L and the radius of gyration Rg. For L⪡Rg, we numerically verify that asymptotically τ∼N1+2ν. For L⪢Rg, we find τ∼N. In addition, we numerically find the scaling function describing crossover between short and long pores. We also show that τ has a minimum as a function of L for lo...

Proceedings ArticleDOI
04 Jan 2006
TL;DR: A new IT governance framework is presented and an assessment tool designed to measure its effectiveness is introduced, aimed to help board members, general managers, business line and IT executives to understand, measure, and manage IT governance in their respective organizations as a part of corporate governance.
Abstract: Our paper presents a new IT governance framework and introduces an assessment tool designed to measure its effectiveness. The framework builds on the integration between the structural and processes perspectives of IT governance, business-IT alignment, and senior executives’ needs. The framework is aimed to help board members, general managers, business line and IT executives to understand, measure, and manage IT governance in their respective organizations as a part of corporate governance. In the paper, special attention is paid to the conceptual validation of the framework and respective assessment instrument.

Journal ArticleDOI
Panu Kalmi1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assemble a dataset of economics textbooks used at the University of Helsinki during 1905-2005 and examine how the treatment of cooperatives has changed, and what factors have led to a neglect of cooperators in textbooks.
Abstract: Discussion of cooperatives abounded in early twentieth century economics textbooks, but is virtually absent from their modern counterparts. In this paper, I assemble a dataset of economics textbooks used at the University of Helsinki during 1905-2005 and examine how the treatment of cooperatives has changed, and what factors have led to a neglect of cooperatives in textbooks. The quality and quantity of the discussion on cooperatives is noted to be much greater in books published before World War II than in post-World War II books. I argue that the main reason for the decline is the paradigm shift from institutional to neoclassical analysis, which led to a neglect of the potential of cooperatives in addressing social problems.

Posted Content
TL;DR: It is argued that in the presence of endogenous information, the robustness of the mechanism to the type space and higher order beliefs becomes a natural desideratum.
Abstract: We survey the recent literature on the role of information in mechanism design. First, we discuss an emerging literature on the role of endogenous payoff and strategic information for the design and the efficiency of the mechanism. We specifically consider information management in the form of acquisition of new information or disclosure of existing information. Second, we argue that in the presence of endogenous information, the robustness of the mechanism to the type space and higher order beliefs becomes a natural desideratum. We discuss recent approaches to robust mechanism design and robust implementation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a multi-attribute e-auction mechanism is proposed for auctioning multiple units of a good, primarily in B2B transactions, which can be used in various types of forward and reverse auctions/RFQs (Request for Quote).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the growth of In(As)P nanowires on silicon substrates was investigated using in situ deposited In droplets as seeds for nanowire growth. And the crystal structure of the InP nanwires was characterized by photoluminescence and electron microscopy measurements. And they added arsenic precursor to the gas phase during growth, exhibiting peak at the InAsP and InP band gap energies.
Abstract: The catalyst-free metal organic vapor phase epitaxial growth of In(As)P nanowires on silicon substrates is investigated using in situ deposited In droplets as seeds for nanowire growth. The thin substrate native oxide is found to play a crucial role in the nanowire formation. The structure of the nanowires is characterized by photoluminescence and electron microscopy measurements. The crystal structure of the InP nanowires is wurtzite with its c axis perpendicular to the nanowire axis. Adding arsenic precursor to the gas phase during growth results in a bimodal photoluminescence spectrum exhibiting peak at the InAsP and InP band gap energies.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
26 Jun 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the need for involving the user and other stakeholder organisations into the innovation process, analyzed the key issues regarding regional innovation, and presented a basic concept of Living Labs as a multi-contextual R&D methodology addressing those issues.
Abstract: The ability to be creative and innovative in a society influenced by stress, lack of time, and other factors, harnessing the technology available in today's knowledge society is key towards increasing the overall productivity of a future European society. Whilst technology enables new value-chains, product and service development increasingly need to focus on true user needs in order to be successful in today's increasingly global and competitive market. New R&D and innovation methodologies need to be developed to meet the challenge of addressing those needs. This paper examines the need for involving the user and other stakeholder organisations into the innovation process, analyses the key issues regarding regional innovation, and presents a basic concept of Living Labs as a multi-contextual R&D methodology addressing those issues. The proposed Living Labs methodology contributes to the coming challenges of mass-deployment of ICT solutions as a mean to further develop the society involving the citizens. It brings the users/consumers/citizens into the system of innovation, thereby leveraging on a larger mass of ideas, knowledge and experiences etc and substantially boosting the innovation capability.