Project Management and Innovation Past and Future
Project Management and Innovation: Past and Future
Nikunj M. Prajapati
Sardar Patel Institute of Technology
Gujarat Technological University, Gujarat, India nmprajapati@spitcp.ac.in ABSTRACT
Originally developed a way back, in the mid-20th century, project management has become a distinctive way to manage business activities nowadays. Another important development is almost virtually universal recognition of the role of innovation and technology in the corporate change, growth and profitability. It is unsurprising that development of innovation is often run as a project. Yet, theoretically both project management and innovation studies have evolved over time as distinctively separate disciplines. In this paper we make an attempt to conceptualize the innovation project management and past as well as future of same. By doing so, we contribute to the nascent academic debate on the interplay between innovation and project management.
KEY WORDS: Project management; innovation; past; Future; technology.
INTRODUCTION
This paper is concerned with three topics and the interplay between them, namely “Innovation”, “Research and Development (R&D)” and “Project Management”. The interest in these topics has exploded recently as they emerged both on the policy agenda and in the corporate strategies. The contribution of technological innovation to national economic growth has been well established in the economic literature. In the last couple of decades, new technologies, new industries, and new business models have powered impressive gains in productivity and GDP growth. While originally there was a tendency to equate R&D and innovation, contemporary understanding of innovation is much broader than purely R&D. R&D is one component of innovation activities and knowledge creation among others. Innovation emerges as a pervasive and complex force, not only in the high-tech sectors in advanced economies, but also as a phenomenon existing in low-tech industry of
Nikunj M. Prajapati
Sardar Patel Institute of Technology
Gujarat Technological University, Gujarat, India nmprajapati@spitcp.ac.in ABSTRACT
Originally developed a way back, in the mid-20th century, project management has become a distinctive way to manage business activities nowadays. Another important development is almost virtually universal recognition of the role of innovation and technology in the corporate change, growth and profitability. It is unsurprising that development of innovation is often run as a project. Yet, theoretically both project management and innovation studies have evolved over time as distinctively separate disciplines. In this paper we make an attempt to conceptualize the innovation project management and past as well as future of same. By doing so, we contribute to the nascent academic debate on the interplay between innovation and project management.
KEY WORDS: Project management; innovation; past; Future; technology.
INTRODUCTION
This paper is concerned with three topics and the interplay between them, namely “Innovation”, “Research and Development (R&D)” and “Project Management”. The interest in these topics has exploded recently as they emerged both on the policy agenda and in the corporate strategies. The contribution of technological innovation to national economic growth has been well established in the economic literature. In the last couple of decades, new technologies, new industries, and new business models have powered impressive gains in productivity and GDP growth. While originally there was a tendency to equate R&D and innovation, contemporary understanding of innovation is much broader than purely R&D. R&D is one component of innovation activities and knowledge creation among others. Innovation emerges as a pervasive and complex force, not only in the high-tech sectors in advanced economies, but also as a phenomenon existing in low-tech industry of
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