Out of the Bottle: Design principles for GENIE tools

This paper addresses the design problem of designing IS tools for supporting inter-organizational innovation network groups. Inter-organizational networks are groups of people with diverse backgrounds and interests. Innovation networks consist of rationalized structures and socially constructed processes that are ongoing over long periods of time and is thus a highly complex problem. We argue that in order to design such IS artifacts well, we need design principles for constructing future IS artifacts. From the experiences of designing and evaluating a Group-focused Engagement & Network Innovation Environment (GENIE) nexus tool based on design science research, we propose five general design principles that aid how to design and utilize such IS tools when one plays a role in a innovation network group either as a member, facilitator or network sponsor. Our contribution is a proposal of a GENIE design theory as the foundation for future development of IS artifacts.