Determinants for Failure and Success of Innovation Projects Paul A. Kirschner*, Bas Cordewener † , Fred Paas*, Iwan Wopereis*, Maaike Hendriks* *Open Universiteit Nederland, Educational Technology Expertise Center paul.kirschner@ou.nl † SURF Foundation / Platform ICT and Education cordewener@surf.nl Abstract The Platform ICT and Education of SURF (Platform ICT-E), a part of the SURF Foundation which is a government-funded national organization in which all higher education institutes in the Netherlands participate set up to increase the pace of educational innovation strives to stimulate a better and more creative use of ICT within higher education. These efforts are not only focused on the primary process, but also on the modernisation and integration of all supporting processes within the educational organisation. To that end, the Platform ICT and Education stimulates – by co-financing – educational innovation projects at institutes for higher education in the Netherlands. To find out how these innovation projects can be initiated, implemented and institutionalised more effectively, the Educational Technology Expertise Center of the Open University in the Netherlands was asked by SURF to conduct an in-depth study investigation into success factors of innovation projects in higher education, in particular, of the innovation projects that are financed by SURF Education. In line with the recent observation by the Scientific Technical Council (WTR) of SURF that structural embedding of the project results in the institute deserves more attention, this study pays special attention to the determination of success factors that are important for the realisation of sustainable innovations in education. This report presents the results of the in-depth study into success factors of innovative ICT projects in education. This study identified determinants for success of large-scale educational innovation projects in Dutch higher education to enable future projects to achieve better and more sustainable results. Keywords: Educational innovation, Success factors, fAilure factors 1 The Problem Robert Burns wrote: “The best laid schemes of Mice and Men oft go awry”. This could also be the motto of most educational innovation, especially innovation involving the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The question that arises is not only why some innovations fail (although this is very important question), but also why others succeed? This study investigated the success and failure factors of large-scale educational innovation projects in Dutch higher education, in particular of the projects funded by the SURF Platform ICT and Education (Platform ICT-E), a part of the SURF Foundation; a government-funded national organization in which all higher education institutes in the Netherlands participate set up to increase the pace of educational innovation. As has been the case in most Western countries, the Dutch Government has invested heavily in stimulating better and more creative use of ICT in all forms of education, including higher education, to ensure that students are equipped with the skills and knowledge required for success in the new knowledge-based economy. All stakeholders (e.g., government, industry, educational institutions, society in general) have placed high priority on achieving this goal. However, these highly funded projects have often resulted in either short-lived or local successes or outright failures. The role of ICT is developing less quickly in higher education institutions than expected. To remedy this, Platform ICT-E funded the present project to try to determine why the successful projects were successful and why unsuccessful projects failed so as to help future projects achieve better and more sustainable results. The identification of success and failure factors for educational innovation projects, and measuring performance of projects based upon these factors, is important to Platform ICT-E as their identification can aid the development and implementation of innovation projects by making those success and failure factors relating to educational innovation projects in higher education both explicit and visible (and thus making them manageable). To increase the pace and impact of educational innovation the Dutch Government has placed high priority on achieving better use of information and communication technologies in education. However, the results of government-funded educational innovation projects have been very inconsistent. 2 The Procedure The research team identified success and failure factors relevant to educational innovation projects. The research was largely qualitative. First, a literature review of success and failure factors was conducted to identify existing knowledge in this area. This was followed by a detailed study of the educational innovation projects funded by Platform ICT-E. To validate the factors found in the literature and to further