UQ Business School experts have played a key role in producing a landmark business innovation publication.
Dr John Steen and Dr Timothy Kastelle were the guest editors for a special issue of Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, titled 'Network Analysis Application in Innovation Studies' (Volume 12 Issue 1 – 2010).
Released earlier this year, the issue was a world-first, providing a comprehensive review of research using complex network analysis to understand how networks influence management outcomes and business innovation.
International interest in the publication has been intense, with academics and business leaders recognising the wide range of business applications stemming from the research, according to Dr Steen.
"Network analysis is a new and exciting area of innovation research which has the potential to impact the way organisations manage innovation," he said.
"We know that valuable innovations come about through connecting things together so that there are new applications for things that already exist.
"What this means for firms is that they can't think of managing innovation without thinking about managing connections, they're two sides of the same coin.
"If we're serious about managing innovation then we need to understand the connections that are behind them and one way of doing this is through network analysis.
"Taken together, the papers in our special issue of Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice provide valuable resources to both managers and policy makers, and they also represent a significant advance in the use of these analytical tools."
Dr Steen and Dr Kastelle are working together to look at how network structures in firms influence innovation performance. In particular they are working with firms in the mining and resource sectors.
