Sandra Venghaus The Management of Complex System Innovations

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Given the economic, ecological and social importance of automotive transportation, the development of alternative fueling and propulsion technologies requires a wise and sus-tainable political course of action. Not least the public debate on the impact of transport emissions on climate change and the call for limits to automotive CO2-emissions reflect the relevance of the topic. In the search for innovative alternatives to the conventional gasoline or diesel propulsion technology, electromobility and hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicles constitute the two most widely discussed long-term options.

The market introduction of fuel cell vehicles serves as an expedient example of a highly complex system innovation (CSI), which requires the cooperation of a variety of actors from formerly independent economic sectors in order to overcome the significant barriers to market entry. As will be discussed, such CSI can only be successfully implemented in an environment, within which the complexity-induced knowledge gap is reduced by a systematic exchange of information with respect to both the critical success factors identified by each of the involved stakeholders as well as their cooperation needs and expectations. Given this challenge, a framework is developed, which serves as the basis for a structured dialogue among the multiple stakeholders involved in the development process of a complex system innovation. The framework can thus best be classified as a corporate moderation and decision-support tool to achieve transparency in and impose structure on complex contexts. Methodically, the presented thesis addresses the development of a holistic approach to the management of complex system innovations from two perspectives: (1) a theoretical perspective of analyzing underlying structures and processes of CSI management (i.e., the CSI Management Framework), as well as (2) the development of a strategic approach for the practical implementation of CSI management in complex networks (i.e., the CSI Innovation Platform).