Our society is facing unprecedented challenges that require the development of innovative solutions, whether technical, organizational or political. Faced with these challenges, no single organization masters the whole picture. More than ever, we need to work together to compare and combine multiple points of view, from which original and significant innovations can emerge. In concrete terms, this has been reflected in the rise of open innovation since the 2000s, in government-funded support for innovation projects involving universities and businesses, and, more recently, in the inclusion of consumers or citizens in corporate or public service innovation projects. This latter trend towards customer/user participation is particularly developed in service (IT) innovation, as a service and is, increasingly, the result of co-creation between provider and recipient.

Digital technologies (especially social networks) are essential in this context, as they provide infrastructures and platforms that make co-innovation possible, even when participants are remote. What's more, the digital industry has been a pioneer in collaborative innovation. Open source communities have been working on the principle of knowledge sharing and co-construction since the 1970s. The increasing dematerialization of goods and services could lead to a generalization of these open and collaborative innovation practices. It does, however, call into question traditional business models based on the ownership of intellectual property rights.

Our research in this area focuses on the conditions that foster co-innovation and co-creation practices, the methods and tools that facilitate collaboration and participation between the various players, the leadership and governance styles that make these processes more effective and lead to more sustainable and relevant results, and the impacts that these practices have in terms of economic and business models.

• C. Burnay, S. Bouraga, S. Faulkner and I. Jureta. User-Experience in Business Intelligence: A Quality Construct and Model to Design Supportive BI Dashboards. In: Research Challenges in Information Science : 14th International Conference, RCIS 2020, Proceedings
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• E. Gebka and A. Castiaux. Data-driven initiatives in Smart cities: citizen participation and value creation. In ISPIM 2019 Proceedings
• E. Gebka and A. Castiaux. Open Government Data innovation: A typology of Government and Citizen roles. In ISPIM 2020 Proceedings
• W. Hammedi , T. Leclerq, I. Poncin, L. Alkire. Uncovering the Dark Side of Gamification at work: Impacts on engagement and well-being. Journal of Business Research, 2020.
• J. Hermans and A. Castiaux. Contingent knowledge transfers in university--industry R&D projects. Knowledge Management Research and Practice, Vol. 15(1), 2017.
• T. Leclercq, W. Hammedi and I. Poncin. Ten years of value cocreation: An integrative review. Marketing Research and Applications, 31(3),1-38, 2016.
• T. Leclercq, W. Hammedi and I. Poncin. The boundaries of gamification for engaging customers: Effects of losing a contest in online co-creation communities, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2018.
• M.-I. Muninger, D. Mahr and W. Hammedi. Digital Co-Creation for Innovation: Critical Review and Research Agenda. Frontiers in Service Conference, Austin, USA, 2018.
• M.-I. Muninger, W. Hammedi and D. Mahr. Conceptualizing the Integration of Social Media in innovation. Innovation and Product Management Conference, Glasgow, UK, 2016.
• M.-I. Muninger, W. Hammedi and D. Mahr. Social Media Integration in Innovation: Empirical Exploration & Conceptualization of underlying Capabilities. AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium, Mumbai, India, 2017.
• M.-I. Muninger, D. Mahr and W. Hammedi. Social Media for Innovation: a critical Review. Innovation and Product Management Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 2017.
• M. Muninger, D. Mahr and W. Hammedi. Social Media for Innovation: a Critical Review and Research Agenda. Global Innovation and Knowledge Academy, Valencia, Spain, 2018.
• M.-I. Müninger, W. Hammedi, D. Mahr. The value of social media for innovation: A capability perspective. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 95, 2019.
• M. Sissoko and A. Castiaux. How does frugal innovation emerge and lead to sustainability in developing countries? A case study in Malian agricultural areas. 166th Seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists, 2018.
• M. Sissoko, M. Smale, A. Castiaux, V. Theriault. Adoption of Sorghum varieties in Mali through a participatory approach. Sustainability, Vol. 11(17), 2019.
• L. Witell, H. Gebauer, E. Jaakkola, W. Hammedi, L. Patricio and H. Perks. A bricolage perspective on service innovation. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 79, pp. 290-298, 2017.

• Namur Innovative City Lab - TRAKK (2016-2022). Topic: Capacity building of local actors in innovation and creativity. Funding source: FEDER 2014-2021.
• Wal-ecities (2017-2021). Topic: Open data as a source of innovation in a smart region. Funding source: FEDER 2014-2021.