Dr Ian Elsum
Areas of expertise
- Innovation And Technology Management 150307
- Organisational Planning And Management 150312
- Entrepreneurship 150304
Research interests
Management of radical / breakthrough innovation
Business model innovation in established firms
Open innovation
Commercialisation of major inventions from public research insitutes
The role of social networks in innovation
Complex social and environmental problems
Biography
Dr Ian Elsum is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Research School of Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University of Technology and a member of Innovation Research Interchange (formerly the Industrial Research Institute).
Ian worked for CSIRO from 1984 to 2012 where he gained extensive experience in the strategic management of applied research with an emphasis on increasing research effectiveness through strategic planning, priority setting and research assessment as well as work on factors necessary for excellence in applied research. He also has extensive involvement in practitioner-led research undertaken by the Innovation Research Interchange aimed at improving the effectiveness of the management of technology-based innovation.
Ian has investigated knowledge management in R&D; venture capital practices and established firms; radical innovation; managing high uncertainty innovation; challenges of business model innovation; and, managing speed-to-market for new products in his work with the Innovation Research Interchange.
Before joining CSIRO Ian carried out fundamental research in chemistry at universities in Australia and the USA. He has been a member of a number of company boards and management and advisory committees, and has also been a regular participant in forums for developing industry and innovation policy.
Ian has broad research interests aimed at improving the effectiveness of the management of innovation. They include management of radical innovation, business model innovation in established firms, open innovation, commercialisation of major inventions from public research institutes and the role of social networks in innovation. His main emphasis is on high-uncertainty innovation and the commercialisation of broadly applicable new technologies.
He also investigates the effectiveness of practices for tackling complex social and environmental problems.
Publications
- Bammer, G, O'Rourke, M, O'Connell, D et al 2020, 'Expertise in research integration and implementation for tackling complex problems: when is it needed, where can it be found and how can it be strengthened?', Palgrave Communications, vol. 6, article 5, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0380-0.
- Terhorst, A, Lusher, D, Bolton, D et al 2018, 'Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Open Innovation Projects', Project Management Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 5-19pp.
- Wells, X, Foster, N, Finch, A et al 2017, 'Allocation of R&D Equipment Expenditure Based on Organisation Discipline Profiles', Journal of Research Administration, The, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 93-110.
- Bertels, H, Koen, P & Elsum, I 2015, 'Business Models Outside the Core Lessons Learned from Success and Failure', Research Technology Management, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 20-29.
- Elsum, I 2013, 'Tackling Integrative Applied Research: Lessons from the management of innovation', in Gabriele Bammer (ed.), Disciplining Interdisciplinarity: Integration and implementation sciences for researching complex real-world problems, ANU ePress, Australian National University, pp. 431-439.
- Koen, PA, Bertels, HMJ & Elsum, IR 2011, 'The Three Faces of Business Model Innovation: Challenges for Established Firms', Research-Technology Management, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 52-59.
- Thompson LJ, Gilding M, Spurling TH, Simpson G and Elsum IR 2011 'The paradox of public science and global business: CSIRO, commercialisation and the national system of innovation in Australia' Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, Vol. 13, Issue 3, pp.327-340
- Koen, PA, Bertels, HMJ, Elsum, IR, Orroth, M and Tollett, BL 2010, 'Breakthrough innovation dilemmas' Research-Technology Management vol. 53, no. 6 pp.48-51