Trial & error is the key process of innovation, as well as invention & discovery, R&D, and new business development. This article emphasizes the importance of improving the management of trial & error processes. Based on discussing actual trial & error practices, it presents effective management guidelines for issues in trial & error: 1) criteria of letting human or AI (Artificial Intelligence) does trial & error, 2) how to cooperate human with AI, 3) how to organize human group, and 4) how to implement trial & error management in hierarchical organizations.

In this opening article, the author describes the background of this special issue. Our modern society has two different kinds of aspects; an advanced technology society aspect and a future co-creation oriented society one. Under the circumstances, there is a need for considering how organizations manage their members' trial and error behaviors to achieve innovation. Based on literature survey in management studies including learning theory, creativity theory, and organizational management, this article defines the trial and error behavior as a process of knowledge exploration by randomly taking action, getting results, creating insights, learning, and making change of inertia. The aims of this article to consider how the trial and error behavior can be affected by two aspects of modern society. After considering reality and potential of artificial intelligence technology as one of the advanced technologies, the author suggested the importance of thinking about collaborative relationship with its technology in doing trial and error. This article also mentions about how we should have an attitude to trial and error in collaborative innovation under multi-stakeholder context.

In this paper, "chances," encountered in the course of trial & error, and "serendipity," the handling for the chances, are discussed and their related empirical research is reviewed. What is important in the course of trial & error is obtaining unexpected results, in other symbolic words, the encounter of "chances." This academic consideration presents the interpretation that the chance in trial & error is a kind of fluctuation phenomenon caused by some unstable state in the course of random probability. "Serendipity" is, on the other hand, cognitive actions anchoring the chances to some value or benefit. Here, the relations among serendipity, trial & error, and chances are graphically demonstrated. Serendipity should be took advantage of not only in the conventional fields of science and technology, but also in social or organizational context. It has an aspect leading to anti-paradigm choice. The empirical research presents that the important factors to serendipity generation, effective promotion factors and paths differ depending on the type of serendipity.

The pharmaceutical and medical product (PMP) industry aims to contribute to human health. However, the environment surrounding the PMPs has dramatically changed in recent years — the increase of elderly populations that leads a shift in disease targets from acute to chronic ones, the increase of uncertainty and complexity of the research and development (R&D) of PMPs, resulting in the tremendous increase in R&D expenditure and the decrease in a success rate to produce an innovative PMP. Trial and error is recognized as a key solution to overcome these issues by uptaking key discoveries including serendipities in the R&D process and producing innovative technologies, products and services. The present article focuses on two exemplified cases in the PMP industry, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology utilised in the field of drug discovery and an information and communication technology (ICT) adopted to support medical practices. Thorough these observations we examined how ICT is implemented to support or alternate the trial and error in the operational process of PMPs. Based on these cases we further discussed the significance and future prospects of advanced technologies in the field of PMPs to achieve the abovementioned goals.

In this article, we discuss possibilities of trial-and-error in understanding and creating meanings with symbols, as a fundamental micro process of innovation. Symbols, which play a critical role in thought and communication, in human language are not only grounded on bodily experiences but also abstracted from concrete experiences. The abstraction of symbols suggests the existence of certain mechanisms to associate indirectly between sensori-motor input-output (symbolic expressions) and internal representations (meanings). The indirect association contributes to make new meanings by recombining or extending existing symbolic relationships, which is called symbol de-grounding, and therefore, there may be possibilities of trial-and-error through the mechanisms of de-grounding.

We present new leadership style in co-creative communication with considering Try & Error. Try & Error in this paper means "interaction" which adjusts "cognitive deviation" among members and leads to consensus, and it is an implicit try & error as a leadership role which brings innovative result in a team. We adopted experimental workshops by setting team structures and speech protocols to verify hypothesis which was found in our previous studies, that is "Mutual influence between two leaders creates team achievement." A small autonomous group was assumed as the research premise. As a result of the analysis, the hypothesis was verified. A series of interactions occurred among members in the experimental group during co-creative workshops, and we found a new leadership style which caused the interactions effectively. It means that as one of leadership in co-creative communication, the leadership causes mutual influence between two leaders, and then leads members participation and consensus for the team's successful output and raises members' satisfaction level as a result. In the situation, implicit try & error works which esteems and recognizes the others' opinion with integrating the own opinion to create a team's decision making, that promotes consensus and co-creation. It is a leadership influential power that adjusts "cognitive deviation" for making a consensus and bringing a satisfaction of members.

A series of practical articles aims to introduce the reality of trial and error behavior in diverse R&D activities. There are one article and two interview articles; (i) trial and error on management of manufacturing technology in Toshiba, (ii) trial and error management in automotive parts maker in Hitachi automotive systems, and (iii) collaborative trial and error for B2B product innovation in Okitsumo Inc. Those practice will contribute to promoting understandings of how companies manage uncertainty by encouraging trial and error behaviors as well as relevant challenges.

A series of practical articles aims to introduce the reality of trial and error behavior in diverse R&D activities. There are one article and two interview articles; (i) trial and error on management of manufacturing technology in Toshiba, (ii) trial and error management in automotive parts maker in Hitachi automotive systems, and (iii) collaborative trial and error for B2B product innovation in Okitsumo Inc. Those practice will contribute to promoting understandings of how companies manage uncertainty by encouraging trial and error behaviors as well as relevant challenges.

A series of practical articles aims to introduce the reality of trial and error behavior in diverse R&D activities. There are one article and two interview articles; (i) trial and error on management of manufacturing technology in Toshiba, (ii) trial and error management in automotive parts maker in Hitachi automotive systems, and (iii) collaborative trial and error for B2B product innovation in Okitsumo Inc. Those practice will contribute to promoting understandings of how companies manage uncertainty by encouraging trial and error behaviors as well as relevant challenges.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of exploration and exploitation on individual performance. Previous Research of organizational ambidexterity is confined to organizational level analysis, thus what effects exploration and exploitation have on individual performance is not clearly specified. We conduct empirical analysis of professionals of Knowledge-Intensive Industry. The results of regression analysis of 60 professionals show that exploitation of client has negative effect on performance, but exploitation of knowledge has positive effect on performance. We found that the effect of exploration and exploitation on individual performance depends on their targets.