CCC 2020

Proceedings of the Creative Construction e-Conference (2020) 027

Edited by: Miroslaw J. Skibniewski & Miklos Hajdu
https://doi.org/10.3311/CCC2020-027

How Organization Will Enhance Benefits Realization by Using

Innovation Project Managment and AI (Artificial Intilligence)

The Influence of Innovation Project Management on Project

Success within Projects-Based Organizations
Tarek Tawfik1, Jamila Al Maazmi2 and Omran Al Shamsi3

1
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, [email protected]
2
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, [email protected]
3
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, [email protected]

Abstract

The importance role of innovation and technology is widely recognized in the corporate change, growth
and profitability, but the main challenge is how to facilitate the innovative process and tools for practices
and research, especially in project-based organizations. Where, conventional project management
methods are oftentimes insufficient for managing innovation projects. In project-based firms, innovation is
almost lost under the pre-determined scope and predicted environments of traditional project
management. There is tremendous pressure on organization to innovate and the project managers are
responsible to manage these innovation projects effectively. Therefore, innovation project management
calls for providing the tools and technology (AI), perceptions, and metrics needed; in order to manage
innovation projects successfully; helping PM’s and stakeholders to identify problems in their organization,
conceive elegant solutions, and, when necessary promote changes to their organizational culture. Thus, for
this paper, authors attempt to conceptualize the innovation project management; to facilitate the
innovation within project environment and to gain the ultimate corporate goals through their projects
accomplishment.

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Budapest University of Technology and Economics & Diamond Congress Ltd
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2020.

Keywords: project-based organization, project management, innovation management, innovation project

management, project success

1. Introduction
All companies desire growth. But without some innovations, the opportunities may be limited and even if
the firm does have a successful innovation, failure can still occur if the company focuses on past successes
without developing a culture for continuous and sustainable innovations, Today industry leaders can
become tomorrow’s failures without constantly challenging results [12].

If continuous and sustainable innovation is to occur, then innovation leadership and project management
must be integrated together and with a clear understanding of each other’s roles. Innovations defines what
we would like to do, and project management determines if it can be done. The integration also may require
that both parties learn new skills and create a corporate culture that support ideas management practices.
Understanding each other’s roles is the first step in making a company more innovative. This requires that
the project managers and other innovation personnel understand what they do not do now but must do

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for long-term successful innovation. “The Future is a direction, not a destination”, as quoted by Edwin Catmull
[5,12,25].

Over the past three decades, there has been a great deal of literature published on innovation and
innovation management. Unfortunately, innovation projects may not be able to be managed effectively
using the traditional project management philosophy we teach in project management courses. Innovation
varies from industry to industry, and even companies within the same industry cannot come to an
agreement on how innovation project management should work. Part of disagreement comes from the
fact that there are several forms of innovation, each one with different characteristics and possibly
requiring different tools [5,12,25,26].

It is inevitable that, over the next several years, professional organizations such as the Project Management
Institute (PMI) will recognize the need to begin setting some standards for innovation project management
and possibly partner with organizations, such as the Product Development and Management Association
(PDMA), with offer a certification programs related to innovation. There may also appear an Innovation
Project Management Manifesto like the Agile Manifesto. The greatest innovation in the next decade may be
the recognition and advancement of innovation project management such as a specialized project
management career path position [5,12,25].

There are difference between traditional and innovation project management. People have avoided using
the words “innovation” and “Project Management” in the same sentence because of these differences.
There is limited research on examine the link between innovation and project management. Innovation is
often unstructured and requires people to utilize those portions of the brain that focus on freethinking,
creativity, brainstorming, and alternative analysis. Project Managers, on the other hand, is very structured,
with a well-defined scope, and often with a very tolerance for any creativity or brainstorming that is believed
to be out of scope [12].

Also, in past days, project management research has focused a lot on practices that related to get projects
done rather than on conceptual or strategic issues like innovation where reasons for success, exposes that
the most common subjects for project management research are those linked to initiating, executing and
closing projects [9].

There are several types of innovation, ranging from small, incremental changes to product to very new
products and processes that are the result of a breakthrough in technology that disrupts the market.
Incremental innovation may follow some of the standard project management processes. Radical or
disruptive innovation may require playing a different set of rules. All assumptions must be challenges, even
if they appear in a business case. Innovation requires the identification of the right problems and thinking
about elegant solutions. All of these factors may require that the organizational culture change. “If you want
something new, you have to stop doing something old”, as quoted by Peter Drucker [12].

Therefore, this paper purpose is to fine the linkage between the project management and innovation
management and attempt to map them together; to assess their merging influence on project success and
to improve the business outcomes, in order to compete and survive in this new market place.

2. Theoretical background
A different type of forces drive the innovation process, for instance the demand for radically new types of
structures or buildings, especially during the 80s and 90s. This demand for new types of buildings was
developed by the diffusion of information and communication technology, growth of the service sector,
and new methods of manufacturing. All that, to enhance flexibility to meet unforeseen changes in demand
and to improve lifecycle performance characteristics [7].

Moreover, global business is susceptible to changes in technology (ex. Artificial Intelligence), demographics,
a turbulent political climate, industrial maturity, unexpected events, and other factors that can affect
competitiveness. Taking advantage of these changes will be challenging. Companies need growth for long-
term survival. Companies cannot grow simply through cost reduction and reengineering efforts that are

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more aligned to a short-term solution. In addition, companies are recognizing that brand loyalty
accompanied by a higher level of quality does not always equate to customer retention unless supported
by some innovations [12].

2.1. Project-based organizations characteristics

Project-based firms definition according to many literature as firms that are organized around projects [7]
and that produce knowledge-intensive services or complex integrated systems by order of their clients [9].

Based on many studies related to project-based management, there are at least four exceptional features,
comparing to other practices of management [19]:

• Project-based management is focused toward activities to accomplish goals of time, scope, and cost
[20] and, gradually, toward wider business and customer objectives. In previous study, management
by objectives has been considered as an organizational innovation, also as goal-oriented agendas.
• Project-based management induces replacing the old organizational structure or utilizing a temporary
organizational structure [20]. In the past, matrix or M-form organizational structures, and flow
manufacturing in multiple plants have been studied as organizational innovations.
• Project-based management can contain both organization-specific and standardized tools and good
practices [20]. So earlier, studies on ISO 9000 and total quality management (TQM) have been
considered as organizational innovations.
• Project-based management endorses distributed and project specific responsibilities in the
organization [20]. Each project has a dedicated project manager and project organization that
dissolves as the project ends. New management system has earlier been considered as organizational
innovation in somewhat different settings.

Organizational innovation may cover new services or products, new organizational structures or
administrative systems, new process technologies, or new plans or programs relating to organizational
participants [19].

Project-based organizations must manage uncertainty and technological across whole organization, within
networks of interdependent regulatory bodies, customers and suppliers. Project-based firms therefore
need to manage in multi-technology environments, responding to changes in engineering, software,
information and materials technologies, increasing costs, and the need to deal with growing complexity
because of political and social situations. However, management of innovation is complicated, since there
is a discontinuous nature of project-based production in which, often, there are broken learning and
feedback loops [7].

Likewise, according to [6] most actions in recent business world are planned and organized in projects still
there is no universal project procedure that fits all organizations. Specially, that innovation are frequently
applied via projects. Therefore, innovation project is a novel way to do so and aims to take something that
has been planned, created, or developed and then utilizes processes to them in some way to realize a
specific outcome. Consequently, the need for innovation in project-based organization is desirable.

2.2. Innovation and management

According to [23], innovation studies are derived from some important studies of Joseph Schumpeter in the
20s and 30s, whose ideas started to gain popularity in the 60s, as the general interest among policymakers
and scholars in technological change, R&D and innovation increased. The field formed as a distinctive
academic discipline from the 80s.

Basically, the innovation process model with a standard decision points of five-stage model is consist of
creativity, selection, incubation, implementation and learning. First, the creativity stage involves examining
the internal and external environment: customers’ needs, competitors’ products and in-house R&D can all
be sources of creativity. Second, selection stage follows as the company assesses the relative merits of

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competing ideas, considering the organization’s strategy and operational constraints. Third, the incubation
stage, where the company develops a prototype, using it to identify problems and resolving them before
progressing to the larger scale activity of the following stages. Finally, during implementation stage, the
company scales up the prototype to full production and launches the product in the market [14].

And, in order to understand innovation further more, it is required to know the source of the innovation or
where they come from. Thus, the seven sources of innovation were listed as following [6]:

The first four represent the organizational internal sources:

• Innovation based on process need- Based on specific tasks within a business rather than overall
operating strategy.
• The incongruity– Is the variance between actual reality and perceived/assumed reality.
• Changes in industry structure or market structure that catch everyone unawares.
• The unexpected– The unexpected success, failure or outside event.
Whereas, the next three describe organizational external sources of changes:

• New knowledge, both scientific and non-scientific.

• Changes in perception, mood and meaning.
• Demographics- population changes.

In 2016, [6], have identified five types of innovations:

• New sources of supply - input innovation

• New production methods (process)
• New forms of organization
• New product
• New market
Based on [15] (p. 229) realized that there is a strong link between innovation and management, accordingly,
the following description about innovation and management have been provided: “Management is to some
extent a cross-disciplinary field by default and firm-level innovation falls naturally within its portfolio. So
between innovation studies and management there clearly is some common ground” [23]. Therefore, the
next sections will provide more description about project management and innovation management
concepts and their relationships.

2.3. Project management

According to PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) [20] a project
management, is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the
project requirements. It has been practiced as a distinct profession in the mid-20th century. Project
management processes fall into five clusters: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling,
and closing. Moreover, project management knowledge areas are: integration, scope, time, cost, quality,
procurement, human resources, communications, risk management, stakeholder management. All
management know clearly about these very well. However, project management considers bringing a
unique focus shaped by the goals, schedule and resources of each project.

Therefore, a project can be considered as an endeavor in which financial, human, and material resources
are organized in a unique manner to commence an exclusive scope of work, of given specification, which
constraints of time and cost, in order to accomplish valuable change that can be defined through
quantitative and qualitative objectives [23].

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2.4. Innovation project management

In this section, a brief literature review exposed the crossing point amongst project management and
innovation studies, in which, there are number of important associations between project and innovation.

Thus, based on Keegan and Turner (2002, p.385), “A revision of traditional project management guidelines
may be necessary given the potential of conventional approaches to managing (innovation) projects to stifle
innovation” [23].

Besides, according to other scholars, the term of innovation project is used and the common definition is:

Innovation projects are systematically managed activities that use inputs in order to transform them into
outputs with a certain scope and aims at achieving something new, in a new way or at improving something
existing [26].

Consequently, innovation project management will be focused on a process for creating and executing
management decisions that are in linked with the defined organizational strategic objectives and the
organizational structure, formation of actions and monitoring their execution. In sum, focusing on all the
implementation process of an innovative idea [1]. Moreover, many authors like [12] put three critical
innovation interfaces as: organization, technology, and markets.

However, several researches indicates that innovation projects set the requirements that must comply with
tools to manage them in the long-term period. Herewith, innovation project management must be reflected
within three features, in specific, as a management decision process, as a functional system of, and as an
organizational system in terms of the functional approach in the innovation project management [16].

On the other hand, authors like [1] described some more approaches related closely to innovation project
management in a further comprehensive way as following:

• The system approach that refers to the management process, in which it consist of two subsystems
that includes the “input” and “output” of the system, 1) the external environment, where it is
communicating with the external environment, 2) and the internal environment, where it is a set of
consistent mechanisms that ensure the process by which the management subject govern the
process, the translation of an “input” into an “output”, the system approach needs support on a
number of applicable systematic sets, combined models, means, standards, processes and tools that
are used for managing projects in several areas of activity.
• The process approach that refers to the management functions of project progress, planning,
organization, motivation, controlling, coordination, and regulation to be interrelated and establishing
a management cycle.
• The behavioural approach that refers to the actualization of the human resources and number of the
principles of inspiration to accomplish the objectives of both the individual and the organization.
• The prescriptive approach that refers to the guideline of functions of the management elements by
normative of the task, programs, plans, region, national government, the founder, and the
organization itself.
• The integration approach that refers to the improvement of collaboration between management,
expanding the relations among the gears of a management system, amongst the life cycle phases of
the management object and between the management structural levels.
Based on these methods, innovation project management is managed as a process of advanced execution
of an agreed set of management phases - initiation, planning, execution, analysis and regulation,
monitoring and control, and closing - that guarantee meeting or even exceeding the project success [1].

2.5. Classification of innovation projects

There are number of classification and typologies of projects have been developed. Thus, for this paper
and for the purposes of the study it is aimed to define the location of innovation projects and to state their
specific groupings, see Fig. 1. There are two types of projects; the conventional projects, which is the

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traditional project that include the commonly executed ones like operational projects, constructions
projects, or as infrastructural ones [6,23].

Fig. 1. Classification of projects [23]

The second type is the innovational projects that includes technology project, new product development
projects, research projects, and other projects. Technology projects are refer to R&D projects, especially in
such industries as defence, aerospace, etc. In addition, research projects are refer to the projects that
involved in various research, for instance for social research, not necessarily as a technological projects
[6,23].

2.6. Mechanism of innovation project management

As previously mentioned that the innovation project is a set of organizational, technical, planning,
calculation and financial documents needed to achieve the project objectives. Consequently, the
innovations implementation process can be defined as a collective of organizational, production, financial,
technological, research, and commercial processes, which can be taken in a precise arrangement and
producing innovations [16].

Likewise, the right organizational focus will be looking at projects as labs to test innovation in all dimensions.
Innovation will include selecting the right mix of team members, experimenting with the right balance of
virtual and collocated teams, testing new ways of working, experimenting fast with outcomes, innovating
the use of data analytics in making faster and more effective decisions, and sensing very differently while
engaging with the customers often and fast for best creative outcomes [12].

According to [12,16] the mechanism of innovation project management had been developed in stages, as:

• Stage (1): the project objective and goals with targeted results are developed, the forecasts of the
project results are well-defined, the competitive capacity and possible economic consequence are
projected, activities with a complex project measurements are shaped, and the project is displayed
and planned. Where, the most important step for this stage is assessment of the project excitability.
• Stage (2): the selection of organizational form of management, activities related to measure, forecast,
and estimate the developed operational state to achieve required results, spending of cost, time, and
resources, analysing and removing the causes of elapsing from the established plan, then plan
modification are done accordantly. Fig. 2 displays the innovation project management mechanism.

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Fig. 2. The mechanism of innovation project management [16]

2.7. Characteristics of conventional and innovation project management

There are many characteristics can be considered when likening innovation with conventional projects. As
mentioned by authors like [6,23] that innovation projects by their nature are vary from conventional
projects in many aspects like:

• Objectives, whereas conventional projects tend to have clearly defined goals and targets. On the
opposite, innovation projects often do not. Innovation is often intangible end goals and the
commercial success of an innovation project can be highly uncertain. In fact, innovation is often a
result of trial-and-error.
• Expenditures for research and innovative activities are considered as long-term, with increased
insecurity regarding the eventual amount of generated earnings.
• Resources in traditional project management is designed via the accuracy, precision, and optimal use
of resources. However, for innovation part since it is a creative process related to uncertainty aspect it
is required slack resources.
• Risk-taking is low in conventional projects since the objectives are clearly defined and processes are
established. While, in innovation projects the risk-taking is high; since their objectives are lightly
identified and vague, and processes are more exploratory and experimentally.
• Project teams leading innovation projects are made up of people with diverse backgrounds, and that
reflect the complex nature of innovation.

2.8. Project managers and innovation personnel challenges

Project managers that are using innovation projects must understand that the environment of innovation
is significantly different from the traditional project environment, where some critical problems and
challenges may occurs like for instance [12]:

• The alignment issue of the project and decision-making toward business strategy and strategic
business objectives.
• Many of the team members may be made up of partner and consumers organizations, especially if
co-creation is being used.
• There is a connection among innovation project management and strategic development.
• Benefits of success may look like another way from the traditional project management.
• Project managers may be predictable to create a major amount of business decisions.
• There are variances between innovation and traditional project management.

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• Innovation project management is consider as a strategic capability.

• A long-term rather than short-term thinking might be required.
Hence, when linking the project with innovation, the biggest challenge facing project managers possibly,
particularly qualified project managers, is knowing that innovation projects may need a full different set of
gears and tools than they have been familiarized with [12].

2.9. Innovation project management skills tools

As commonly recognized from previous literature that innovation has arisen as the engine of social
cohesion and national success but come with it new challenges. However to preserve global
competitiveness and people’s regular of living and to accommodate new challenges, efficiency needs to
advance, new businesses need to be produced and people required to gain the skills that employers want.
This lead to more acceptance by individuals receive change, grip new ideas, and improve new capabilities
and skills. Hence, the required tool that measures the skills needed for innovation, are developed mainly
to measures five general skills, which support innovative behavior and procedure an agreed number of
characteristics that clearly linked to the innovation process: leadership, energy, creativity, risk-propensity,
and self-efficacy [8].

In details, and compare to traditional project management, where all actions depend more in the
organizational guidelines, policies, and procedures. As well as, for the project management methodology
the project manager simply directs the project team to complete all the needed forms and checklists related
to the project. Whereas, for innovation project management there are different skills required because of
the innovation nature [12].

Few literatures identified the characteristics of innovators, but some of these studies focuses on creativity
as a personality trait. Moreover, the studies assumed that innovative behaviors and skills may be gained
from experience and experimentation. however, innovators may developed more skills through
appropriate education and training [8,13]. Thus, here are some of important skills take into account for an
innovation project manager like [12]:

• Knowing the firm’s intangible and tangible assets (capabilities and resources)
• Willing to work under up normal pressure, risk and uncertainty
• Link the team objectives with the firm's growth objectives
• effective team building that includes external resources
• Let team members to be accountable to their actions
• Innovation Leadership and Good communicator
• Have a wide insight, see "the big" picture
• Have a design thinking skills
• Creative Problem-Solving
• Will to take responsibility
One of the most critical dimensions for projects success over the years has always been executive support.
In innovation, several firms are recognised that the most critical to start from the top. For example, boards
of directors and executive leaders of the future are not going to play a very different role, however they are
improving, innovating, changing the business for the better, as well as, strengthening the excellence of
implementation that derives from innovative project management [4,12]. Moreover, innovation in project
management requires a good degree of autonomy. Specially, that today's dynamic workplace, teams are
luckily becoming more self-directed. This is necessary to enhance the opportunity of creativity, the flow of
ideas, and the assurance that the teams will produce the innovations desirable for the style engaged to
track projects [12]. In sum, innovation is initially ran by human attempts, the appreciation and improvement
of an idea adjudged to bring economic and social welfares. The process is clearly rational in that it draws
on individuals’ involvement and skills to translate their ideas and knowledge into something unique that
will be valuable by others [8]. Fig. 3 shows the journey of the ideas until it turns into innovation.

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Fig. 3. How the ideas are turned into innovations [8]

2.10. Artificial intelligent (AI) technologies

Technological Innovation influences organizations capability to try to win effectively in a progressively more
global market [2], and one of the most popular technological innovation notion in a current business world
is the artificial intelligent (AI), which it dramatically reshape enterprise project management. Artificial
intelligence (AI) tech such as deep learning and process automation is changing how projects are managed
today and will have an even greater effect tomorrow. Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated enterprise
operations to the point that it now determines an organization's success, including in the area of project
management [20].

According to [2] there are several essential advantages for this kind of innovation, as could computing,
forensic accounting, mobile accounting, enterprise resource planning, social media, optical character
recognition, and reducing errors through Tax software.

Likewise, based on [21] report found that in the next three years, project professionals expect overall AI
usage to jump from 23% to 37% and the majority of respondents (81%) said their organizations are currently
being affected by AI technologies. The growth in AI usage will require changes in how projects are managed,
and how organizations implement strategy.

The [12] report identified six AI technologies that are affecting organizations around the globe:

• Decision management: Creates an intelligent process or set of processes based on rules and logic to
automate decision-making. Project managers predict that in the next three years, the impact of the
following three AI technologies will grow:
• Knowledge-based systems: Understands the context of the data being processed, helping support
human learning and decision-making.
• Machine learning: Analyzes data to build models by detecting patterns, yielding improved decision
making with minimal human intervention.
• Deep learning: Builds, trains and tests neural networks that predict outcomes and/or classify
unstructured data based on probabilities.
• Expert systems: Emulates and mimics human intelligence, skills or behavior in a particular field, topic
or skill.
• Robotic process automation: Mimics and automates human tasks to support corporate processes.

2.11. The innovation culture

Many authors like [10] utilized the common definition of the culture for their studies, as the shared beliefs,
values, norms, attitudes, ideas, and performances that define a group of people and their behavior.
Organizational cultures are intangible assets that can lead to failure or success. The failure can happen
when innovation makes people tense. Some people consider themselves as not creative people. Also, there
are many people conclude that the innovation is not part of their job description and the innovation is the

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only related to research and development people. Some are not even convinced that innovation is
significant to validate a major initiative. Therefore, the importance of an organization and or project's
culture is often underestimated. As a result, the organizational innovation culture need to be boosted and
acknowledge by all people within the organization; to allow people to freely contribute ideas [12].

[12] Proven that an effective innovative cultures must allow within the organization the following habits:
risk taking, curiosity, failure tolerance, everyone to tap into their own level of creativity, freedom to follow
one’s intuition, avoid or defer from rapid judgment, collaboration (informal), active listening, being team
players, managing tensions rather than just trade-offs. In another words, without the safety that is needed
to innovate, organizations miss out on the right amount of innovation enablement. The culture to support
innovation in project management must be adaptive. No longer would a classic view of the slow build-up
of phases of a given project be suitable for generating and testing the best ideas. Much higher iteration
would be needed. Teams must be encouraged to take risks and the organization must have a high tolerance
for mistakes that can occur at a higher rate than ever before. The appetite for risk-taking and the courage
that is required to fail and learn is the new normal. Fail fast and learn will become part of the new DNA of
most organizations. The learning culture that this creates is priceless. Executive leadership will play a big
role here too, as they will have to walk the talk frequently and will have to use a high level of emotional
intelligence to manage the stress related to the risk taking required. Leaders will have to relate to their
project managers differently to instil a new sense of trust.

2.12. Knowledge management

A Knowledge management definition as per [17] (p 3), is ‘the deliberate and systematic coordination of an
organization’s people, technology, processes, and organizational structure in order to add value through
reuse and innovation. This coordination is achieved through creating, sharing, and applying knowledge as
well as through feeding the valuable lessons learned and best practices into corporate memory in order to
foster continued organizational learning”.

In 2016 [18], studied and examined the association among core requirements of innovation, knowledge
management implementation, and organizational performance in a mobile telecommunications sector.
The results indicated that knowledge management implementation had a statistically significant and direct
positive effect on innovation. In addition, it indicated that the innovation had a positive and statistically
significant effect on organizational performance. Thus, the knowledge management aspect will be consider
in this paper; to control the process of innovation project management.

2.13. Innovation project performance (success)

In order to evaluate and to assess the innovation project success, there is a need to check the external
market-related performance items. In addition, it is required to capture the match with client needs, the
impact of the innovation on competitive advantage, adherence to revenue targets, and adherence to profit
targets. Besides, the perceived gain in reputation in the area of the new product or new service was
included, since this is an important aspect of performance in project-based firms [3,9,24,25].

2.14. Innovation project management models/measurements

A study by [3] explored a number of themes derived from the innovation literature innovation for project
management perception that consist of the following:

• Organisation of work
• The type of structure used to manage innovation projects
• The level of formality in that structure
• Patterns of authority
• Communication patterns
• Evaluation of outcomes

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Another study by [11] put a model to examine the correlation between the four dimensions of innovation
management (organization culture, strategy, and structure and innovation means and tools) and the
influences of internal and external factors for two detailed case studies in two medium-sized contractors.
This model finding allowed a suitable management of innovation in construction companies and improved
the companies’ ability to innovate, see Fig. 3.

Fig. 4. The integrated model of innovation management in construction companies [11]

Then a study by [22] proposed a seven-dimensional conceptualization of the innovation management

phenomenon and applied it to an examination of the measurement problem. The innovation management
process consisting of seven categories: inputs management, knowledge management, innovation strategy,
organizational culture and structure, portfolio management, project management and commercialization
as table 1.

Table 1. Innovation management measures aspects [22]

An integration between project management processes and innovation management concepts and
components was developed; since project management alone cannot support radical innovation projects.
Fig. 5 shows the mapping between PMBok process including initiating, planning, execution, controlling and
closing phases with Innovation methodology process groups that consist of problem definition, critical
analysis, solution development, validation & decision, governance, detailed design, implementation, and

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optimization. This supports in revealing important innovation project successes and sustain companies
development and competitive advantage [5].

Fig. 5. Integration of the PM and IIM components [5]

After that, a model was developed for four common mmanagement practices for innovation projects
consist of planning, senior management support, multidisciplinary teams, and heavyweight project leaders,
and the influence of these practices on project performance. Moreover, the characteristics of project-based
firms are investigated, how these affect management practices for innovation projects, and the influence
of these practices on project performance. the firm characteristics consist of project-based firm,
collaboration level, autonomy level, service firm, firm size, and firm strategy. Then the project
characteristics consist of newness, planning, project autonomy, multidisciplinary team, and senior
management support [9]. See Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. Firm characteristics influence on the innovation project management practices [9]

Moreover, an innovative framework was designed for project management, which included innovation
processes to enhance the project management processes. This framework described a structured method
to integrate integration innovation management processes with project management processes. Project
management processes take account of the five Course Clusters: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring
and Controlling, and Closing, as cleared in PMBOK® Guide. Importance is given to scope management,
human resource management, opportunity management, and requirements management processes.
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Equally, innovation processes contain discovery (ideas for solutions), open innovation (all possible ideas
and solutions that can be an opportunities for innovative processes, products, or services), seek innovation
partners (all stakeholders), idea management (create and evaluate all ideas, converge into one solution),
knowledge brokering (sustain innovation), and innovation opportunity management [25].

Besides, a conceptual framework was created where they integrated strategic project management for
product innovation projects, through business model, resource-based view, value proposition, contingency
theory and dynamic capability theory. These strategies aimed at business value creation and enhancing the
commercial product innovation achievement. The Strategy Project Management framework is essentially
an input-output process, as shown in Fig. 7, and it illustrates that project managers should analyse [24]:

• Firm-level strategy and capabilities

• Internal project characteristics and external contingencies
• Project-level resources and capabilities
• Key project success factors
• Expectations to project value deliverables

Fig. 7. The Strategy Project Management framework [24]

Then, [26] presented a paper about the innovation project tool, which aims to outline the main
characteristics of innovation projects in terms of project management, then to use these facts for
developing a tool for categorisation of innovation projects. These specific characteristics of innovation
projects are defined thorough usage of knowledge areas of PMBOK project management methodology.
Moreover, the findings were ranked the most ten innovation factors; and used them for testing the
Innovation project tool.

3. Research framework
Based on a comprehensive literature review done in this paper, the proposed framework is established,
which attempted to contribute in improvement of the innovation projects performance; in order to support
project managers and innovation managers to facilitate their tasks.

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The proposed framework, as shown in Fig. 8, contains of dimensions related to innovation and project
management aspects that consist of:

• Company innovation strategy refers to strategic orientation and strategic leadership [11,22].
• External innovation factors refers to characteristics of the sector and the commercialization [11,22].
• Internal innovation factors refers to size, services, technologies, collaboration and staff member
[11,9].
• Company innovation culture [11,12,22].
• Company structure [3,11,22].
• Innovation stakeholders refers to all innovation partners [25].
• Innovation tools refers to all tools needed for innovation like [11].
• Artificial intelligent refers to technological innovations [2].
• Knowledge management refers to idea generation, knowledge repository, and information flows
[17,18,22].
• Project inputs refers to people, physical and financial resources, communication, technology and tools
[22,24].
• Project characteristics refers to newness, planning, project autonomy, multidisciplinary team and
senior management support [9,24].
• Project capabilities refers to project structure, project leadership, and project culture [25,24].

Fig. 8. The proposed conceptual framework

These twelve characteristics/dimensions had impact on the integrated innovation project management
practice that leads to enhance the innovation project performance. Where the integrated innovation project
management is an arrangement of project management stages with innovation management approach
adopted from authors like [17,25,26].

4. Research methodology
To test the paper's proposed conceptual framework, a cross-industry sample of firms in UAE will be utilized.
Where, a deductive quantitative approach based on a proportionate stratified random sampling technique
will be used. Therefore, an administrative on-line survey will be sent to the main members of the project
management from internal interested party of these companies. The components that need to investigated
are: The characteristics of innovation project management, as an (independent variables) measuring:
company innovation strategy, externa/internal innovation factors, company innovation culture, company
structure, innovation stakeholders, innovation tools, artificial intelligent, knowledge management, project
inputs, project characteristics, and project capabilities. The integrated innovation project management

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practice as an (independent variables). The innovation project performance (success) as a (dependent

variable) measuring: the external market-related performance, to capture the match with client needs, the
impact of the innovation on competitive advantage, adherence to revenue targets, and adherence to profit
targets, and the area of the new product or new service.

5. Conclusions and future work

As projects became the best chance to innovate, more than any time in history, as well as, projects were
intended to change the business by nature. And since projects are no longer simply considered as
operational actions. Thus, they are now very strongly contribute in enabling changes from a current state
to a future state [12].

As a result, this paper developed a robust innovation framework for project management for project-based
organizations. In which, innovation processes has been integrated with project development/management
processes that can significantly leads to enhance the innovation in project-based organization, which as a
results will achieve all the organizational short-term and long-term goals and realize a competitive benefits
for the business. The innovation project management framework provides a structured approach for
project managers to use in starting and delivering innovation projects with considering the entire related
characteristic around the innovation project management aspect.

Finally, in future, extra investigation is required for project management approach to innovation, and to
embed flexibility in innovation project management approaches. Moreover, considering that at this stage
the present project management practice does not have enough or robust characteristics of innovation, so
there is a need to identify further characteristics of innovation. Another suggestion is to use the agile
concept in project management approach. Finally, it would be very valuable to have researches that are
more empirical on the usage in other types of industries and different innovation projects [6].

6. Acknowledgements
We thank all those anonymous referees for their useful suggestions and helping to publish this work.

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