From September 15 to 17, 2024, more than 90 scientists and practitioners met at Hamburg University of Technology for the conference of the Continuous Innovation Network (CINet), which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Under the direction of Prof. Tim Schweisfurth and Prof. Moritz Göldner, the participants exchanged their insights and experiences on the topic of collaborative innovation.
On Sunday, the organizing team welcomed the guests at the Digital Hub Logistics in Hamburg's historic Speicherstadt. In his opening speech, Prof. Göldner spoke about the Hanseatic city's transformation from a global trade center to a modern hub for the exchange of knowledge and ideas.
After the opening of the conference by Prof. Mats Magnusson (KTH Stockholm) and Prof. Schweisfurth, the first day of the conference focused on a lecture by Prof. Elke Schüssler (Leuphana University). She explained how the right organization of co-presence, i.e. an openness to interaction beyond mere presence, can promote creative collaboration. Prof. John Bessant reviewed the beginnings of CINet, before Prof. Göldner presented an analysis of the 1,570 abstracts submitted over 25 years of CINet and highlighted the development of participant numbers, topics and methods. Conclusion: “The main topics in recent years have been the digitalization of innovation processes, sustainability and the circular economy, as well as creativity and open innovation.”
In the subsequent sessions, researchers presented their current work and were able to exchange valuable feedback. In the evening, a boat trip to St. Pauli encouraged informal exchange, with the campus' own beer, brewed by TU students, the “Campus Perle”, on tap.
On the second day, the program included more specialist lectures. The jury honored two outstanding contributions: the first was by David Pacuku and Christina Raasch for their paper “Disentangling the Effects of Idea Novelty and Mere Exposure on Idea Evaluation”, and the second by Giulia Palombi, Francesca Bellesia and Paola Bellis for their research on the role of artificial intelligence in innovation processes. Finally, the participants visited the Steinway & Sons factory and gained insights into the precision craftsmanship involved in piano making.
Next year, CINet will be inviting participants to Lucerne. For more information, please visit the conference website.
25th CINet-Conference at TUHH
