Service-oriented innovation in R&D

In this article, the concept of service orientation in R&D is explored. Three forms of service-orientation are discussed integrated products, service offering, and service competence. The first form, integrated products, addresses the development of complex integrated products in which service offering has been incorporated. The second one, service offering, concerns the knowledge present in an R&D department. This knowledge as such can be used for providing advice or solving problems elsewhere. Finally, service competence denotes a service attitude for the people involved in realising the services required. Adequate means, processes, and R&D organisation should support the accomplishment of the desired service competence. From the point of view of a specific R&D function, service can be offered to other functions internally or externally, but can also be acquired from other R&D departments inside or outside the company. Implementation of service orientation is becoming more and more important for organisations to be innovative and requires radical innovation in R&D. We illustrate the concepts introduced with examples from a recent study tour in the southern part of Germany.