• INTRODUCING EDEN
• CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
• RESEARCH ON CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
• CORE FACULTY
• PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
• PRACTICALITIES

EDEN calls to everyone’s mind the garden of earthly delights to which the Book of Genesis refers. It evokes the attractive and creative environment that EIASM offers to young promising scholars who undertake the exciting doctoral adventure.
Through the creation of EDEN, EIASM will contribute to the most critical phases in a scholar’s life cycle : i.e. his/her introduction to and early growth on the academic market. Thanks to its unique image and its organizational competitive advantages (core of associations, autonomy and flexibility), EIASM can indeed be very efficient at :

• inserting young doctoral fellows into a highly stimulating system where European researchers can interact (within and across associations), sharing common objectives and concerns ;
• helping them in the positioning of their own work in relation to European research generally : expose them to various research traditions and orientations, open their minds to the international/global perspectives to be adopted when looking at the Management environment, make them aware of the challenges Management is facing in Europe (globalization, new technologies, etc.) ;
• creating a network of European educators active at the doctoral level in Management.

The future wealth and well-being of individuals, companies and society as a whole depends a great deal on continuous innovation. Continuous innovation is the ongoing process aimed at creating product - market - technology - organisation - combinations (PMTO) that are new to an individual, a group of people, an organisation, a market sector or even society as a whole. This definition suggests four key elements:

· Innovation is a process and should be managed as such.
· The outcome of this process is at least one new element in existing PMTO-combinations.
· The extent to which the resulting innovation is new may range from incremental, small step innovation, through 
  synthetic innovation, i.e. the creative recombination of existing techniques, ideas or methods, to discontinuous,
  radical, quantum-leap innovation.
· The entity or ‘the who’ for which the innovation is new may range from the world, a particular country/society or an industry, a company to an individual.

Successful continuous innovation is beneficial to a wide variety of stakeholders, including customers, employees and owners/shareholders of companies. The achievement of such benefits requires company-wide involvement and commitment, cross-departmental and inter-organisational collaboration, continual learning (and unlearning), and deep insight into the process of continuous innovation. Continuous innovation is an essentially cross-disciplinary field of research.

The EDEN Doctoral Seminar on Research in Continuous Innovation was successfully launched in 2003. The Seminar features a focus on content and method, faculty teaching and student activity, plenary sessions, and small-group work. Through a variety of assignments, participants will work actively and interactively.

The EDEN Doctoral Seminar on Research in Continuous Innovation programme is co-ordinated and taught by an international core faculty. Active in the Continuous Innovation Network (CINet), all faculty members are experts in the field of continuous innovation. The CINet organises a bi-annual conference on Continuous Innovation (every second year – the next one will be on September 22 - 25, 2004 in Sydney, Australia), a Doctoral Consortium as an integral part of the conferences, and a bi-annual Doctoral Symposium (between the conferences).

Prof. Harry BOER, Aalborg University, Denmark (hboer@iprod.auc.dk)

Dr. Raffaella CAGLIANO, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (cagliano@polimi.it)

Dr. Mariano CORSO, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (corso@polimi.it)

Dr. David COGHLAN, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland (dcoghlan@tcd.ie)

Prof. Paul COUGHLAN, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland (coughlnp@tcd.ie)

Dr. Frank GERTSEN, Aalborg University, Denmark (fgertsen@iprod.auc.dk)

The provisional programme is as follows:

10 May 2004 Prof.dr.ir. Harry Boer (Aalborg University)

Topic : Overview of innovation management theory and paradigms
Challenge : The continuous innovation paradigm
Methods : Overview of continuous innovation research methodologies

11 May 2004  Dr. Raffaella Cagliano (Politecnico di Milano)

Topic : Learning in product innovation
Challenge : Implementing enablers and reducing barriers
Method : Combining qualitative and quantitative research methods in theory building and testing

12 May 2004 Dr. Paul Coughlan & Dr. David Coghlan (Trinity College Dublin)

Topic : Learning in practitioner and researcher networks
Challenge : From NALP to CO-IMPROVE
Method : Building innovation theory through action research

13 May 2004 Dr. Mariano Corso (Politecnico di Milano)

Topic : Knowledge management
Challenge : Community management – The TIM case
Method : Combining case study and action research in theory building, testing and refinement

14 May 2004 Dr. Frank Gertsen (Aalborg University)

Topic : Organisational aspects of process innovation and improvement
Challenge : Combining radical and incremental innovation
Method : Case studies and action research in theory building and refinement


Character of the programme
The programme will be highly interactive and include opportunity for exploration of emerging themes in continuous innovation, related theory and methodology, background and seminal contributions. Each morning a specific topic, a related challenge and relevant methodological issues will be addressed based on the lecturer’s own research. During the afternoon the participants will present, and discuss with their fellows and staff, their own research, and work on a case or exercise.

Preparation
A full list of mostly compulsory and some elective preparatory reading in the area of continuous innovation will be sent to the participants together with the notification of acceptance to the seminar.

TIME AND LOCATION
The seminar will be held at the UNIVERSITY OF AALBORG.
The programme will start on May 10, 2004 and is scheduled to end May 14, 2004

PARTICIPATION FEE
The participation fee is 1400 €. This fee includes participation to the seminar, the documents, lodging, breakfasts and lunches.
Cancellations made before April 23, 2004 will be reimbursed with 10% deduction of the total fee. No reimbursement will be possible after this date.

EIASM SCHOLARSHIPS
The Institute offers a limited number of scholarships of 700 € each. Scholarships are strictly limited to students coming from an EIASM Institutional Member (the Academic Council). Allocation of the scholarships is entirely at the discretion of the European Institute.

APPLICATIONS
Interested doctoral students should register online (and add the required documents) no later than March 10, 2004. Besides doctoral students, other researchers may participate. The number of participants will be limited to create a stimulating environment. The selection among the applicants will be conducted by the Institute’s Faculty. They will review the following documents which should necessarily complement each application form:

• the applicant’s curriculum vitae demonstrating his/her capabilities of doing research ;
• a letter of recommendation of his/her local faculty supporting the application ;
• a two-page description of his/her doctoral research, indicating the general objectives.