One latte with innovation, please!
During the past four years, Professor Jon Sundbo has created innovative solutions for various Danish companies. The first innovation project resulted in organic, low-fat milk which is easier to froth for making lattes than ordinary milk. Milk with added RUC innovation.
It all began at Café Europa in the heart of Copenhagen. Here, Jon Sundbo worked with food manufacturing company INCO and Café Europa on the first innovation project back in 2008.
"The project was centred on the notion that the café staff were to come up with ideas for innovation based on their interaction with the customers at Café Europa,” Jon Sundbo explains.
The project soon gained momentum, and the staff at Café Europa were quick to identify what their needs were in their day-to-day work and when serving customers. The customers of the café wanted healthy, low-fat products, which inspired the café to focus on developing a healthy, biodynamic and organic concept.
"More specifically, the staff came to the conclusion that they wanted organic, low-fat milk that would be easier to froth than ordinary low-fat milk. We included the organic dairy Dansk Naturmælk and a few other dairies in the project and quickly developed a type of milk which was organic and could be frothed and all that” says Jon Sundbo.
The first innovation project, which was completed in less than six months, formed the template for subsequent innovation projects.
"The project resulted in a general method for creating innovation, which we call value-chain innovation. The method can be explained by using milk as an example. We get our milk from the farmer's cows. The milk is taken to the dairy where it is poured into cartons and shipped to the supermarkets, where it is marketed. The milk is then used in a café where atmosphere is added. In each of these chains, new value is added to the milk. As researchers, we expand the chain by being a part of it," he explains.
Innovation overhaul for Knuthenborg Safaripark
Knuthenborg Safaripark boosted its revenue after a visit from the RUC innovation team. The RUC researchers equipped each of the park's visitors with a GPS, which enabled the researchers to learn about what routes the visitors traveled in the park.
"Based on the physical pattern identified from the GPS routes, we were able to show management what their visitors actually wanted to see, and what they do when they visit Knuthenborg Safaripark,” Jon Sundbo explains, and continues to reveal what the routes showed.
"They showed that the families spent most of their time in the playgrounds where they could be together as a family. So, it is the activities in the playgrounds, and not the animals in the park, that determine if visitors return to Knuthenborg Safaripark," says Jon Sundbo.
After this "innovation overhaul", the management of Knuthenborg Safaripark chose to focus on the playgrounds, and they developed a water playground at the park. These new activities have strengthened Knuthenborg's revenue in a market that is otherwise marked by a slowdown, and the park is now one of the three Danish tourist attractions that have seen growth during recent years.
The innovation projects continue, and Jon Sundbo and the RUC innovation team are continually working to further develop their methods and theories for creating innovation in Danish companies.