The role played by ICT in the dilemma “exploration vs exploitation” in the innovation process

Innovation and the Information Communication technologies (ICT) have been two important topics in the study of competitive advantage for firms since the 1980s. Traditionally, most researches have focused either on ICT or innovation but there are few works about the role played by ICT to improve the innovation process. The main issue of this research which is not really explored in the academic literature is to analysis how firm could exploit ICT in the innovation process in the dilemma context “exploitation vs exploration”. Our analysis highlights 3 ways to use ICT in the innovation process: the involvement of lead users, the electronic collaborative platforms, the knowledge marketplaces.