%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2013 %T Reinventing the Wheel: Contextualizing Existing Innovations as a Path to Market Success %A Jeff Moretz %A Karthik Sankaranarayanan %A Jennifer Percival %K commercialization %K contextualization of innovation %K Innovation management %K market-focused innovation %K organization %X In the quest to create cutting-edge products, organizations often invest substantial time, attention, and capital in primary research and development (R&D). By themselves, these R&D investments to create avant-garde products may not provide good return-on-investment. In the context of Canadian businesses, there is a significant scarcity of resources available for R&D. What can Canadian firms do to stay innovative when they face a plethora of difficulties, including insufficient funding? This article explores how organizations can leverage external innovation and existing technologies to create products or services that cater to the market needs. We present a three-pillar model along with examples of companies that attained market success in large part by contextualizing existing technologies in order to create innovative products or services. This approach provides companies with a high-level framework to facilitate resource-parsimonious creation of commercializable, innovative products that are competitive in today’s global marketplace. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 3 %P 16-21 %8 10/2013 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/732 %N 10 %1 University of Ontario Institute of Technology Jeff Moretz is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa, Canada. He obtained his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and has an MBA and two undergraduate degrees from Michigan State University, USA. He is a recovering consultant, having worked for McKinsey & Company in Chicago after his MBA studies. Prior to joining the UOIT, he worked at University College Cork in Ireland, researching open source software communities and open innovation. His research interests focus on the impact of information, openness, and information technologies on innovation, business models, and strategies. %2 University of Ontario Institute of Technology Karthik Sankaranarayanan is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada. He earned a PhD degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Embedded Systems from the University of Lugano, Switzerland, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Madras in Chennai, India. Prior to joining UOIT, he was a visiting scholar at the New England Complex Systems Institute in Cambridge, USA, where he explored agent-based modelling of complex systems. His research encompasses simulation and modelling of complex systems, and the broader behavioural operations field. Recently, he has become involved in a collaborative study on the application of an open innovation framework in the services sector. %3 University of Ontario Institute of Technology Jennifer Percival is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Programs in the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada. She holds a BMath in Operations Research and a PhD in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her research focus is on the strategic use of technology and innovation, including the effective use of technological innovations in order to determine the optimal allocation of IT investments for various organizational cultures to support e-services and e-health initiatives. She is also actively involved in research surrounding the use of process-modelling techniques to support change management, innovation, and technology integration in services. %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/732