2.
Background
The concept of COINs and the use of dynamic social network analysis tools such as Condor a were introduced to the research team through the graduate course DMGT 782 b: Collaboration at Distance, during the 2008 fall term. Participating in the COINs course consisted of a collaborative venture between various university actors, students and faculty. The participants in the course included collaborators from information system from the University of Cologne, the University of Helsinki, and design faculty and students form SCAD. The inclusion of design students introduced a knowledge model with very different set of skills, tools and language, which increased the complexity of the interactions between the collaborators (Miller et al. 2010). While the experience of participating in the COINs course and learning the Condor software was initially challenging, it was certainly a positive learning experience for all those involved. That is to say that by working in global virtual teams, we had the opportunity to learn through hands-on experience how to collaborate in a multidisciplinary virtual environment. Also, the participants realized the potential of COINs to provide the imagery to visualize a business model that applies the principles of creative collaboration, knowledge sharing and social networking. Early collaborations toward founding TRI-O involved establishing a core team consisting of three graduate design students who participated in the COINs class. The three designers come from three different parts of the globe: the U.S., the People’s Republic of China, and the United Arab Emirates. In addition to the cultural differences, the team members come from different academic backgrounds; each possesses unique skills that range from industrial and product design, business and engineering, and from social science and community development. It should be noted that realizing the potential that can come from diversity would have had little chance if there had not been common ground on which to build. In this case common ground was established through the fact that all individuals were students of design management which provided a common language and shared values. The research team established creativity, transparency, and communication as guiding principles under which the dynamic of collaboration takes place. Early discussions between team members focused on addressing questions such as how to generate and structure interdisciplinary collaboration in business situations, and on identifying critical path issues by applying a multidisciplinary lens to build business capacity. The task was to uncover hidden business opportunities based on the team’s social and professional networks. Moreover, significant attention was given to identifying commonalties, areas of strength, and potential markets that each of the members could identify based on one’s current and past networks. Following these initial steps the team prioritized the different areas that defined our expertise and were considered as adding value to the collaboration process. 3.
Three Core Disciplines
In approaching this project, the team explored three focus areas: design management, collaborative innovation networks, and business model generation through the Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). The following summarizes these core disciplines with attention to their contributions to the overall vision of the proposed model. The research team sought to create a strategic vision that supports collaboration and sets the foundation for the development of a business model. Scenarios would be developed to explore possible futures implied by various iterations of the business models. Having this in mind, the team began with the design management approach, a practice requiring design thinking and creativity. As suggested by Fee (2007), design management can be described as the practice of collaboration in the materialization of tangible ideas and principle that are shared by the people involved in creating new business, developing new products, and stimulating the investor community (Fee, 2007). Because of a commitment to realize competitive advantage it was important for the team to take an approach that explicitly focuses on innovation. As a result, design management practice becomes integrated as a core element in the process. The next core element was based on the idea of COINs which represents a cyber-team of self organized people working together toward a common goal-innovation- by sharing ideas, information, and work (Gloor, 2006). A fundamental motivation for pursuing this project grew from a desire to reflect the “genetic codes” of COINs.