Deltares - Innovation management

Innovation management

Innovation in the area of water, ground or subsoil is usually not an automatic success. Often, the problem is not the concept but the implementation. There must always be a need for the innovation and end users should be able and willing to work towards this. For an innovation to succeed, laws and regulations should never be an obstacle. Deltares supports clients in the successful implementation of their innovation.

Key Success Factors

Deltares identifies the probability for the success of innovations in the Soil, Road and Hydraulics sector. For example, for placing innovative asymmetric blocks on a dike, or a new technique to secure ground locally, so that erosion can be prevented.

Determining factors that dictate the implementation’s chance of success are:

Social requirement (demand) Technology (supply) Practical implementation (realisation)

Our research is related to these factors. Therefore, we ask ourselves a number of primary questions: Is there a demand for this idea? Which problems does it solve? Is the applied technology really innovative? What obstacles stand in the way of executing it? In this way, possible dilemmas are highlighted and we can decide if the problems can be solved.

We help to guide the innovationprocess in order to reach a breakthrough while taking into account the role of the client, who could be a water resource manager, an inventor or a market participant.

Multidisciplinary teams

Our multi-disciplinary teams’ experience is an important factor when it comes to the introduction and adaptation of an invention. Scientists as well as public administrators and economists can take part in developing solutions for the Soil, Road and Hydraulics-sector. Deltares investigates the following:

Technology
High quality is a primary requirement. In addition, there must be favourable opportunities for the technology in the (niche) market. Therefore we carry out a technology scan, a social cost-benefit analysis or scale the idea down to a laboratory test.

Social basis
We investigate the need for the innovation, and whether the desired users are ready for it. Could citizens, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) or stakeholders stand in the way of implementation? Which risks do the interested parties foresee and which measures can the client take? In addition, we look at what the innovation means for the environment. An environmental impact assessment might follow.

Law and regulation making
For a smooth implementation we investigate beforehand which laws and regulations relate to the innovation.