| This study examines the emergence of innovation ideas "in the wild" within a network of organizationally unaffiliated members. This research is exploratory and aims to achieve two objectives. The first is that it empirically examines a complex social phenomenon in which new innovation ideas emerge, take hold, and are refined by intentioned individuals. Innovation ideas are novel thoughts that, if completed, could result in an economic innovation. Second, this study conceptually clarifies and adds to the literature on the dynamics of informal networks of innovators.; Empirical research into the dynamics of network creation during the earliest stage of innovation---before the "idea" or the "team" exists---is in its infancy. Existing research views the stage as an ad hoc period of indeterminate time, driven by intuition, and filled with ambiguity and uncertainty. Several separate areas of academic study---specifically innovation, early design process management, networks, and creativity---offer several developing theories and models, much of which start after a formal idea exists. A literature review on the initiation of innovation by informal---or more accurately, non-formalized---teams shows that the state of knowledge about the emergence of innovation ideas is itself still emerging.; Analysis of the data demonstrates that ephemeral networks of individuals do exist and play a seminal role in the emergence of innovation ideas that lead to further economic activity in formal organizations.; The contribution of this research is a broader view of how ideas and interactions co-evolve toward innovation in an informal network. It presents a previously unseen view of the beginning of the innovation process, outside of corporate influences, before an idea and team exist. This extends models of innovation to an earlier point in time, answering questions of the ultimate source of novel ideas and innovation-focused teams. The innovation process is a social process that begins with the introduction of a half-formed thought, leading to interactions around this thought, and ending with the possible self-organization of an informal team. It is this recurring process that leads to the formalization of the innovation idea and team and the beginning of more traditional processes of innovation. |
