The presentation reports on progress to date in one of the projects within Signature Project 4, ‘External Enablement for impactful entrepreneurship and innovation’. An external enabler is a ‘distinct, external circumstance[s] that has the potential of playing an essential role in eliciting and/or enabling a variety of new economic activities by several (potential) actors (cf. Davidsson, 2015).’ This project, ‘A study of robotics for manufacturing in Australia’, explores the nature of the robotics external enabler in the context of Australian manufacturing, in terms of its characteristics, roles and mechanisms by drawing on the External Enabler Framework (Davidsson, Recker & Briel, 2020). This empirical study aims to generate novel and evidence-based insights for enhancing and extending the external enablers framework and to provide practical insights and tools for business, government, other stakeholders. The presentation will describe the study, its methodology and emerging insights with respect to both external enabler theory and manufacturer practice.
About Dr Janine Lay:
Janine obtained her first PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Melbourne, before joining Rio Tinto where she led research development in mineral processing, working closely with production sites to develop, test and implement solutions. She then joined Rio Tinto’s Engineering company, where she managed Staff Development and the Rio Tinto Project Management Workshops, followed by joining the Office of the Chief Technologist where she managed collaborative research projects with global universities. She gained senior university research management experience at RMIT University, Central Queensland University in Gladstone, and the University of Queensland.
After a career at the interface of industry and university research, Janine undertook a second PhD in Business at the University of Queensland, titled ‘An exploration of knowledge creation processes in Open Innovation’. This led to Janine working with Anna Wiewiora and the CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) to develop and operationalize a process model of innovation in the mining industry. Janine is now working with the Centre for Future Enterprise in Signature Project 4.