Innovation Communication

In general, innovation communication is a concept that means the communication of products, services or processes with new and different qualities to those existing. In the process of innovation communicating, messages, media, target audiences and communication objectives must be addressed.

The concept of innovation communication

The concept of innovation communication refers to a work area, and a research topic or with an academic background in Communication Sciences, more specifically, in the academic field of organizational and strategic communication.
Mast, Huck, and Zerfass (2005, p. 166) define innovation communication as “symbolic interactions between organizations and stakeholders in dealing with new products, services and technologies.”

Symbolic interactions referred to Mast, Huck, and Zerfass (2005) occur through the intentional strategic action of symbols and messages between the holders or exploiters of innovation and various recipients. So, both strategic communication and communication with various publics are the key ideas of the concept of innovation communication.

At the academic level, the innovation communication is one the research topics of the strategic communication (Zerfass & Huck, 2007). This is a relatively recent topic or area of interest and recognized studies have already taken place during the first decade of the 21st century with a group of authors from the Communication Sciences.

Innovation Communication´s stakeholders

Among the innovation stakeholders and the different target audiences are the communication professionals, like journalists and public relations, according to Nordfords (2006), so they are the main actors in innovation communication. Therefore, the professionalisation of innovation communication arises through the mediation of strategic communication professionals, public relations, business communicators and, on the other hand, journalists. These professionals are able to develop and implement strategies to communicate innovations from companies, organizations of research, development and innovation (R&D&I), or others, and spread them through different channels.

Innovation Communication Techniques

In the field of communication techniques that service the innovation communication, we have the (1) journalism; (2) organization of events; (3) institutional campaigns; (4) relationships outside the organization; (5) public debates. The last three communication techniques were suggested by Zerfass & Huck (2007).

The journalistic communication techniques include the relationships between the journalists and the media.

Event organization techniques, such as public relations, can be oriented for the general public or for targeted audiences. In the case of the event is aimed at the general public or the masses, it aims to the contact, the dissemination and the communication of innovation on a large scale, for example, a widely publicized exhibition. However, in the case of the organization events aimed at specific technical audiences, these have a limited number of contacts, for example, a specialized forum or an integrated demonstration.

Types of innovation communication

1. Communication of ‘warmth between partners’

Communication of ‘warm-hearted’ innovation aims at strategic communication between innovation partners. Thus, the strategic orientation of innovation communication is geared towards innovation partners. The innovation partners are people and organizations, such as scientists, researchers, technicians, specialists, companies, research centres, knowledge transfers interfaces, technological centres, among others. It is a style of communication that use relational channels, also designated by “hot channels”, such as dialogues, conversations, meetings, small workshops, forum. This type of ‘warm-up’ innovation communication involves the involvement of innovation stakeholders. Partners are one of the target audiences of innovation communication strategy.

2. Public communication of innovation

Public communication of innovation aims at the dissemination of innovation to undetermined target audiences, also known as the general audience or general public, threw a promotional, dissemination or dissemination of innovation. The channels used may involve traditional mass media, social networks, the Internet, or relational media, such as events, for the purpose of public communication of information. The communication style used can be either informative, promotional and strategic.

There are large resources to communicate innovation, therefore, from the traditional channels of communication to the latest digital media of information and dissemination. The strategic planning of the communication of innovation demands to answer the elementary questions of the process of communication: Who? What? For Who? Why? When and Where? But, it can also be included: de positioning and the intentions or the expected results.

Reference this encyclopedia entry (according to the rules of the APA 6th ed.)

Ribeiro, P. C. (2018). Innovation Communication. In Knoow.net (Ed.), Knoow.net – Enciclopédia Temática. Lisboa. Acedido em https://knoow.net/en/social-human-sciences/communication-sciences/innovation-communication/.