Abstract

Service innovation has become one of the major areas of research into the nature of innovation within organizations and within national economies. The chief focus in innovation research has traditionally been on manufacturing, and a focus on new product and technologies. A small but growing literature has sought to show what is distinctive about services innovation. The theoretical thrust of this course would be to show the integration of manufacturing and services innovation, and the interrelated activities between them.

The implications for the management of people within organisations are considerable, from the nature of skills required to build service science capability, the career paths required to reward this, and the current and future labour markets for service scientists. This forum will examine some of the key issues in this area.