Corporate foresight in open laboratories - a translational approach

摘要

Many companies have lately started to use open laboratories for innovation. This paper looks into the added value of these practices for corporate foresight. To differentiate corporate foresight in open laboratories from innovation, the paper uses the concept of translation from cultural theory, which addresses the treatment of semantic differences in the ways how different groups of people express meaning. Based on a multiple case study, the paper collects evidence about translation practices in open laboratories and investigates how they relate to corporate foresight. The results show that translation in open laboratories enables companies to gain insight into their own situation and engage in an ongoing re-negotiation of their relation with other stakeholders in commercial interactions. This is a distinctive aspect of corporate foresight in open laboratories which has so far been widely neglected in research. It creates various opportunities for further development of foresight practices.