Success for Innovation Communication

German blogger and resercher Dr. Ansgar Zerfaß speaking at the Second Conference on Innovation Journalism, held at Stanford University on Apr 4-6 2005. He was elected “PR Head of the Year 2005” by the German-speaking Public Relations community last month. (not a very good photo. I took it) The conference was arranged by the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL) and the Swedish VINNOVA Innovation Journalism Fellowship Program, co-sponsored by the Stanford Graduate Program in Journalism and the Finnish Innovation Journalism Initiative.



The first innovation communication handbook „Neue Ideen erfolgreich durchsetzen. Das Handbuch der Innovationskommunikation” (Bringing New Ideas Across. The Guide to Innovation Communication), edited by Claudia Mast and Ansgar Zerfaß, was recently released in the publishing house of Germany’s renowned newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

The guide presents for the first time an overview of the field of Innovation Communication. It encompasses the basic concepts as well as numerous best practice examples from companies such as ThyssenKrupp, Siemens, IngDiBa and IBM.

The book presents for the first time a comprehensive overview of the field of Innovation Communication and encompasses the basic concepts as well as numerous best practice examples from companies such as ThyssenKrupp, Siemens, IngDiBa or IBM. The handbook includes a special chapter on Innovation Journalism by Dr. David Nordfors Program Leader Innovation Journalism, VINNOVA – Swedish Government Agency for Innovation Systems.

I have not read it as the book only is available in German. Innovation Communication deals with of internal and external stakeholders within the innovation process (called stakeholder orientation) and the relevance of regional and branch-specific innovation systems (cluster development, that is). It also highlights the importance of communication for the implementation of new ideas, products, and services. An overview of the field in English is available here. (Warning. Academic text.)

A new survey on Innovation Communication that succeeds the previous study from 2004 will be carried out by the initiative in cooperation with the German telco company “debitel” this fall. The focus will be on the Information and Communication Technologies branch. Results are likely to be available early 2006.

The handbook (only in German) can be ordered at Amazon.