Digital Garage Case Study

The purpose of this bachelor thesis was (1) to establish a clear understanding about the term digital innovation and (2) to bridge the gap between applied research and ready-to-market digital innovation. The present study was designed to determine, which of the following models help SMEs execute DI faster: A Plug-in innovation process or an innovation department. It can be concluded, that the bachelor thesis succeeded in developing a new research concept, which is the need-based applied research, powered by diconium and SRI’s Digital Garage.

One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that it is not about the questioning: Plug-in process or an innovation department, but about ensuring the seamless merge of both entities.
Therefore, diconium and SRI founded the Digital Garage and developed the Plug-in innovation process, which fuels existing innovation processes of companies from end to end. The Digital Garage is a hands-on digital business lab, encouraging its members to scope, ideate and design digital business models. Therefore, it has a significant contribution to the change process in the management and especially in the part that plays an active role in the Digital Garage. The USPs of the Garage are at the same time the pain relievers for SMEs digital problems. First, the Digital Garage secures access to SRI’s newest technological investigations. Second, it provides companies with SRI’s broad know-how and experience profiles. Third, the Garage ensures speed in the execution of digital innovation. Based on their current need, the companies are free to plug-in to a certain stage of the innovation process. Accordingly, the Digital Garage creates strong links between ideation and operationalization of new business model, which leads to a healthy relationship between costs and turnover. Especially for SMEs with limited resources, the Digital Garage is most valuable, because it has clear KPIs to measure the outcomes of digital innovation. The research showed that none of the interviewed companies
After analyzing the results of the empirical research, it can be hypothesized that the holistic approach is structured in the following framework: Digital Lab, Plug-in innovation process, Factory and an innovation department, which supports the individual models throughout the entire process. The DI activities start within the Digital Lab, where interdisciplinary teams observe new trends, develop, design and test new digital business models with the help of agile working methods. According to the interviewed experts, after one to two years of operation the Digital Lab turn to an established commodity. Furthermore, the ideas get predictable. After gaining first experience in the Lab, follows the Plug-in innovation process, which accelerates the pace of DI and contributes with new real technological innovations. The results of the Digital Garage are operationalized in the Factory. It has the highest possible competence for digital execution. The S-Curve ends after ideas from the Lab pass the whole process and reach the Factory. The innovation department is connected to all stages, but it does not participate proactively. It has its focus on innovation and not on DI, meaning it is strongly focused on the production and purchasing stages of the value chain. The holistic approach towards DI has the decisive advantage of being focused on companies’ values, goals and preferences. There are