Towards the use of knotworking for increasing innovation in construction projects

Knotworking is an emerging collaboration form in the built environment, which promises to minimise the fragmentation of the industry. In an EU project, knotworking type workshops will be held for the involved organizations to optimize the design-build- and maintain processes in actual building projects. The workshops will be facilitated and monitored by researchers, who will continuously record learning from the events. The present research is the first part of this process.Specific recommendations of how to facilitate the innovative processes during the workshops need to be developed. Previous studies have focused on the knotworking process, rather than how to ensure performance during the workshops.Activity Theory is used to describe the inter-organizational network, which generates an understanding of the complexity of the analysed environment. The expansive learning circle from Activity Theory reveals that tensions created by contradictions in the activity systems mark the possibility for learning and innovation opportunities.Facilitation of innovation in inter-organizational network begins with an understanding of when an innovative process is emerging. A hypothetical recommendation for facilitation of inter-organizational network is having knowledge of the importance of tensions; having the skills to identify the tensions, and having the competence to turn the tensions into the beginning of an innovative learning process.The fragmentation of the construction industry is lessened by knotworking. However, due to the fragmentation of the industry, the organizations' expertise in collaboration varies from project to project so facilitation of the knotworking processes is required. The recommendation of identifying tensions and acting on them will be tested during the EU project in the middle of 2017. It will contribute to further understanding of innovative learning processes based on Activity Theory and suggest new perspectives on collaboration processes within this theory. Unfortunately, the data collection is not within the timeframe for this conference.