Information for researchers

What is the Science behind Service?

It all started with one of the biggest companies in the world, realizing that it needs to fundamentally change its approach towards business by embracing a service dominant perspective. For this purpose they proposed encouraging innovation and fostering constructive multidisciplinary collaboration. Their initiative to evolve and adapt to the realities of the 21st century was received with enthusiasm by academia and thus the concept of Service Science was born. You can read more about it in the white paper that emerged as a result of the Cambridge Service Science, Management and Engineering Symposium held in 2007. In brief, Service Science is a new and exciting way of looking at business, education, research and even government that focuses on innovation and value co-creation empowered by a new breed of service oriented professionals with different professional and cultural backgrounds and mind-sets.

Who are we?

Energized by the call for a paradigm shift, the Service Science Factory emerged as an initiative of Maastricht University to put this exciting new concept into practice. Thus, for close to a year now we have been running two-month projects aimed to come up with innovative solutions to service challenges launched by forward-looking organizations. We form teams of dedicated researchers and enthusiastic students who under the guidance of experienced professors and in close collaboration with company representatives strive to develop service innovations. We have taken on service challenges from companies in different industries, ranging from pension funds to hotel chains. Our multicultural teams brought together researchers in various fields from team processes to information and communication technology alongside students at both graduate and undergraduate level studying business and economics, social sciences, design or law. If you want to see some of the buzz our work has generated check out the Press Info section of our website.

What are we up to now?

In between the 28th of March and the 1st of June we will be rolling out five new projects. Our partners are service organizations from very different business areas and they came to us with some exciting service challenges. Have a look at the description of each upcoming project to get a taste of what is on offer. We need dedicated researchers to be part of our five new project teams because they empower their colleagues with their expertise and professionalism. Thus we would like to have you on board because no matter how enthusiastic and creative our student members are they still need guidance in regards to techniques, processes and approaches they might find challenging at the moment.

What do we want from you?

We would like you to share our enthusiasm for service innovation and multidisciplinary collaboration and dedicate your time to one of the proposed projects for close to ten weeks. We would like to have you on board and attend meetings, workshops and brainstorming sessions alongside your colleagues and leverage your experience in the whole process. We would like you to act as a mentor for your younger team members and not forget that there’s a lot to learn from each-other. Thus, we need you to be a team-player and furthermore we need you to be able to face eventual stressful or time-pressure situations. Last but not least, we want you to enjoy being part of the Service Science Factory and come out as an enriched professional after the project is done.

What do we offer in return?

Being part of the Service Science Factory offers a great research opportunity regardless of your field of interest since it provides access to students, academics and real-life companies. Moreover, you get to step out of your research routine, walk out of your university and experience a new and very dynamic and collaborative work environment. Thus you get to expand your professional network and you have the chance to pursue new data collection or even new research avenues. Aside from the thrill of taking part in the development of service innovation within the Service Science context you get to meet some very inspiring and interesting people from students visiting from top universities on other continents to renowned professors and entrepreneurs. Some of the biggest supporters of the Service Science Factory include Paul Iske, Chief Dialogues Officer at ABN AMRO Bank, Leif Edvinsson, Professor of Intellectual Capital at Lund University Sweden, as well as A. “Parsu” Parasuraman, Professor of Marketing at the University of Miami.
The bottom line is that service science is a hot, new and exciting research area and the Service Science Factory offers the unique opportunity of having a ten-week, hands-on inspiring experience. If you’re interested in taking part in any of our new projects or simply want to get to know us better, please contact us and we will get back to you in no time.