13. Integrated Communication in the Innovation Process—An Approach to Integrated Innovation Communication

As innovation processes become accessible to consumers and other interested public parties in the sense of open innovation, innovation communication faces new challenges. The interface existing between internal and external commercial interests must be systematically coordinated in order to ensure that the development process is efficient and effective and that the developed innovation is successfully implemented on the market. Innovation communication plays a key role here in securing that the points liaising internal and external interests are integrated over the length of the innovation process. This is a complex task and involves coordinating communication objectives and publicity, integrating communication instruments and, not least of all, aligning the numerous target groups—from the research specialists in R&D to the Internet bloggers. This chapter uses impulses stemming from integrated communication to develop a phase-oriented concept for integrated innovation communication that is capable of guaranteeing a systematic coordination of the interfaces involved and providing a central support in promoting a satisfactory outcome for the innovation process.