Past projects gallery

Applied Research in Employee Trust

This applied research project investigated trust amongst employees of a large UK company, and made suggestions for building a trusting environment

Better Business through Knowledge Management

This pioneering project was designed to enable owners and managers in SMEs to use knowledge management tools and techniques to build better businesses in a way that is practical, inspiring and client-centred.

Continuous Improvement Research for Competitive Advantage (CIRCA)

This project investigated how continuous improvement could be introduced and sustained in UK industry. The project represented a collaboration between industrial and academic partners and was launched under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Industry. The second phase of the research began in February 1994 and was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

CoPS Innovation Centre

From the perspective of innovation there was, worldwide until the mid-1990s, a dearth of study into high technology capital goods — complex product systems — CoPS. An ambitious new centre changed all of that.

Creating_games: Mapping and Upgrading Creative Processes for Sustained Innovation — The challenge facing UK Electronic Games Developers

A detailed process mapping of eight exemplary companies, four of which are recognised as leading UK developers.

EPOCH

The overall objective of this network is to provide a clear organisational and disciplinary framework, for increasing the effectiveness of work, at the interface between technology and the cultural heritage of human experience represented in monuments, sites and museums.

ESRC/RCUK Research Placement Fellowship

A project examining economic impact assessment within the Research Councils

Improving Performance in Complex Product Systems Production via Inter-project Knowledge Capture and Transfer

CENTRIM's previous research on high value, complex products and systems showed that it was extremely difficult for firms to learn systematically from project to project. There existed few, if any, explicit mechanisms to enable knowledge capture, and there was little awareness as to what constitutes best practice in the field. The loss of corporate knowledge from project to project had far-reaching implications for performance, productivity and competitiveness among suppliers and users.

Increasing the Sustainability of Contract and Office Furniture Manufacture and Supply

Developing best practice regarding a range of issues along the furniture supply chain, to move towards more sustainable production.

Inno-metrics User Innovation Analysis

CENTRIM expertise in the User Innovation field drawn upon for a SPRU led research project funded by the Pro Inno Europe policy initiative of the EU Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry.

Innovating Practices in Digital Advertising

Digital technologies and media are increasingly important in the advertising industry — in terms of product innovations and the co-ordination of workflow. This research will develop a taxonomy of creative practices, drawing on qualitative research across a range of organisational forms.

Innovation in the Supply Chain

This three-year project explored the interface between buyers and suppliers, and examined the barriers to extending Total Quality Management (TQM) practice into supply chains.

Innovation Space

One of the goals expressed in the South East’s Regional Economic Strategy (RES), is to “…create a dynamic, diverse and knowledge-based economy that excels in innovation and turning ideas into wealth creating enterprise.” .

Innovation Wiki

The first wiki on innovation management.

Knowledge Transfer

A package of knowledge transfer services — supporting SEEDA's broad remit for innovation, and the ESRC's imperative for knowledge transfer between academics, industry and policy makers.

Learning from Landmark Projects: a Study of Heathrow Terminal 5

This project examines how BAA (the owners of Heathrow Airport) and Laing O'Rourke (a leading contractor) learnt from both external and internal sources to develop a novel approach in delivering the Heathrow Terminal 5 project (T5), and how from this they are capturing the lessons — and using the learning — to improve performance in subsequent projects.

Learning Games Network

This project, supported by trade association ANGILS, will set up a Learning Network on Serious Games involving users, procurers, games developers, training providers and policy makers.

Managing Knowledge Spaces: Mapping the Effects of Dispersed Teamworking on Project Performance

Benchmarking dispersed and co-located project teams to produce the Knowledge Spaces Tool.

Measuring User Innovation

NESTA is currently in the progress of developing a new UK Innovation Index, to be published in the Autumn of 2009. As part of this effort CENTRIM has been awarded a project to develop and test indicators to measure the phenomenon of ‘user innovation’. This project will be conducted in partnership with EIM Business and Policy Research from the Netherlands, and MIT Sloan School of Management

Mental Models and Communication Effectiveness in Multi-Functional Project Teams

This research aimed to provide an empirical exploration of the relationship between team knowledge and communication effectiveness in multi-functional projects (MFPs).