Research focus
Viktoria Institute focuses use of IT within the automotive and transport industry sector. Our research are mainly within one of three competence areas: Automotive, Public Safety or Transport.
Automotive
The Automotive competence area covers applied research with industry actors targeting IT applications, methods, and services that are based, or partly based, on in-vehicle computing and communication platforms. In particular, Viktoria's research focuses on applications that, more or less, involve end users or are integrated with outside firms' business propositions. Examples of application areas include active safety, diagnostics or remote diagnostics, and nomadic device integration. Moreover, the Automotive competence area covers process innovation research focused on the intersection between business and software architectures.
Public Safety
The Public Safety competence area covers applied research with public safety organizations and industry actors targeting the design and use of information technology for establishing Common Operating Picture in everyday emergencies as well in large-scale crisis. Application areas include time-critical ad-hoc organization, collaborative visibility on mobile devices and inter-organizational accountability. The Public Safety competence area focuses on operative personnel and their use and future use of mobile information technologies in field-settings. Research projects are close collaborative efforts with end-user organizations such as Rescue Services and the Police authorities.
Transport
The transport competence area covers applied research with industry actors targeting IT applications that support transportation practices. Utilizing mobile devices embedded in vehicles and stationary systems placed in offices, three examples of IT application areas in the road transport industry are transport management, intelligent transports, and remote vehicle diagnostics. In particular, Viktoria’s research focuses on how information infrastructures can be designed to leverage core business activities of highly mobile organizations and how distributed computing and communication capabilities can enable such organizations to exploit resources and explore business opportunities. Given this research direction, key questions concern standards design and diffusion and architectural innovation.
Research Methodology
The research is conducted as collaborative action or applied research projects involving the Viktoria Institute and the set of industry, public sector, and innovation system partners. In particular, we use the canonical action research methodology. The canonical action research method is characterized by its cyclical process model, rigorous structure, collaborative researcher involvement, and primary goals of organizational development and scientific knowledge.
The canonical action research method has proven to be productive in applied research. In fact, we have used the methodology in several completed or on-going projects in which we have not only managed to contribute to practice but also to research at the highest international level. In all these projects, intensive collaboration with a whole set of industrial partners have been central to accomplish the project results.
Although there are a variety of action research approaches available to IS researchers canonical action research method is one of the most widely adopted. As a canon of action research, the method formalizes the standards of this iterative, rigorous, and collaborative research process by describing it in terms of the following five phases:
- Diagnosing refers to the joint (researcher and practitioner) identification of situated problems and their underlying causes. During this phase, researchers and practitioners jointly formulate a working hypothesis of the research phenomenon to be used in the subsequent phases of the action research cycle. The typical Viktoria Institute approach in this phase of a project is to conduct an ethnography consisting of intense studies at the field site
- Action planning is the process of specifying the actions that can improve the problem situation. Typically, this process includes specifications of IT-prototypes based on problems discovered in the diagnosing phase.
- Action taking refers to the implementation of the intervention specified in the action planning phase. The typical Viktoria Institute approach in this phase of a project is prototype-based intervention.
- Evaluating entails the joint assessment of the intervention by practitioners and researchers. This is typically done in the practical problem situation in which the initial diagnosis was conducted.
- Specifying learning denotes the ongoing process of documenting and summing up the learning outcomes of the action research cycle. These learning outcomes should constitute knowledge contributions to both theory and practice, but they are also recognized as temporary understandings that serve as the starting point for a new cycle of inquiry.
In sum, our previous research demonstrates that the canonical action research methodology is an excellent basis for guiding applied research as to ensure the fulfillment of the dual goal of contributing to economic growth and scientific excellence. Thus, the research at Viktoria Institute employs such action research as a methodological tool in the projects included in the research portfolio.
Automotive
The Automotive competence area covers applied research with industry actors targeting IT applications, methods, and services that are based, or partly based, on in-vehicle computing and communication platforms. In particular, Viktoria's research focuses on applications that, more or less, involve end users or are integrated with outside firms' business propositions. Examples of application areas include active safety, diagnostics or remote diagnostics, and nomadic device integration. Moreover, the Automotive competence area covers process innovation research focused on the intersection between business and software architectures.
Public Safety
The Public Safety competence area covers applied research with public safety organizations and industry actors targeting the design and use of information technology for establishing Common Operating Picture in everyday emergencies as well in large-scale crisis. Application areas include time-critical ad-hoc organization, collaborative visibility on mobile devices and inter-organizational accountability. The Public Safety competence area focuses on operative personnel and their use and future use of mobile information technologies in field-settings. Research projects are close collaborative efforts with end-user organizations such as Rescue Services and the Police authorities.
Transport
The transport competence area covers applied research with industry actors targeting IT applications that support transportation practices. Utilizing mobile devices embedded in vehicles and stationary systems placed in offices, three examples of IT application areas in the road transport industry are transport management, intelligent transports, and remote vehicle diagnostics. In particular, Viktoria’s research focuses on how information infrastructures can be designed to leverage core business activities of highly mobile organizations and how distributed computing and communication capabilities can enable such organizations to exploit resources and explore business opportunities. Given this research direction, key questions concern standards design and diffusion and architectural innovation.
Research Methodology
The research is conducted as collaborative action or applied research projects involving the Viktoria Institute and the set of industry, public sector, and innovation system partners. In particular, we use the canonical action research methodology. The canonical action research method is characterized by its cyclical process model, rigorous structure, collaborative researcher involvement, and primary goals of organizational development and scientific knowledge.
The canonical action research method has proven to be productive in applied research. In fact, we have used the methodology in several completed or on-going projects in which we have not only managed to contribute to practice but also to research at the highest international level. In all these projects, intensive collaboration with a whole set of industrial partners have been central to accomplish the project results.
Although there are a variety of action research approaches available to IS researchers canonical action research method is one of the most widely adopted. As a canon of action research, the method formalizes the standards of this iterative, rigorous, and collaborative research process by describing it in terms of the following five phases:
- Diagnosing refers to the joint (researcher and practitioner) identification of situated problems and their underlying causes. During this phase, researchers and practitioners jointly formulate a working hypothesis of the research phenomenon to be used in the subsequent phases of the action research cycle. The typical Viktoria Institute approach in this phase of a project is to conduct an ethnography consisting of intense studies at the field site
- Action planning is the process of specifying the actions that can improve the problem situation. Typically, this process includes specifications of IT-prototypes based on problems discovered in the diagnosing phase.
- Action taking refers to the implementation of the intervention specified in the action planning phase. The typical Viktoria Institute approach in this phase of a project is prototype-based intervention.
- Evaluating entails the joint assessment of the intervention by practitioners and researchers. This is typically done in the practical problem situation in which the initial diagnosis was conducted.
- Specifying learning denotes the ongoing process of documenting and summing up the learning outcomes of the action research cycle. These learning outcomes should constitute knowledge contributions to both theory and practice, but they are also recognized as temporary understandings that serve as the starting point for a new cycle of inquiry.
In sum, our previous research demonstrates that the canonical action research methodology is an excellent basis for guiding applied research as to ensure the fulfillment of the dual goal of contributing to economic growth and scientific excellence. Thus, the research at Viktoria Institute employs such action research as a methodological tool in the projects included in the research portfolio.