Visual tools to support innovation development: User experiences from the Parisian ecosystem

Purpose – This paper reports an experimental application of network visualization to understand the value of visual expression for presenting complex knowledge assets to executive decision makers in order to develop culturally-relevant insights for program development.
Design/methodology/approach – In pairs, decision makers used interactive network visualizations to explore complex multi-layer data about relationships among key executives, companies, and financing organizations in the region served by their network facilitation programs. Their experiences were documented using pre- and post- questionnaires, as well as observations and interviews conducted by research team members.
Originality/value –The results provide novel evidence of the benefits of a relationship- based visual format to present knowledge assets for evidence-based decisions. Using interactive visualizations, the decision makers aligned views of the data with their individual cognitive mindsets. Working in pairs to complete a joint task, team members made their cultural interpretation and working explicit.
Practical implications – The findings support the argument that the value of knowledge assets in problem-solving performance depends on both the format of the data and the nature of the task. Our results support the importance of continual involvement and interaction between data analysts and decision makers; they highlight the importance of considering knowledge assets as value drivers that can support knowledge-based innovation.