Can Asia Beat the Western World on Innovation?

by Stefan Lindegaard

My recent blog post, Are Asians Capable of Innovation?, generated lots of comments on my blog and on various LinkedIn groups.

A recent comment from Rudolf Kutina went like this (slightly edited):

“What you see today is “Just follow the money” strategy, but in 10 years Asians well beat us on innovation and in 20 years they will teach us innovation methodologies. The main reason is that Asians today are managed to be multi-disciplined, while we just try to dive deeper in just one direction. Thus in the long term view our ability to innovate is really limited BY TIME.”

As I spend more time in Asia, I see innovation is maturing and getting more sophisticated. Overall, I believe the future...

Social Media and Personal / Team Branding for Innovators

by Stefan Lindegaard

In my humble opinion, the use of social media and personal branding techniques is a low-hanging fruit for corporate innovators and entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, there is not yet much activity on this.

Why do I believe that the use of social media and personal / team branding techniques is important for innovators? Because more than ever, corporate innovators and entrepreneurs need to build strong brands not only around their offerings, but also around their own capabilities. This is important as companies compete to build the strongest innovation ecosystems in order to get better innovation to market faster.

Simply put, corporate innovators and entrepreneurs need to pay more attention to terms such as “preferred partner of choice” and “we are in the matchmaking business” and here you...

5 Ways to Get Better Innovation With Less Money

by Stefan Lindegaard

A few years back, many companies would simply try to buy their way to innovation success by hiring more people and starting more projects as they were given more money.

Things have changed. Corporate innovation units have let go of people and they have scaled down on projects (size as well as number) because they are given less money. This raises a big question.

How can we get better innovation with less money?

Let’s have a discussion on this. I can start out with five suggestions that can help upgrade the innovation engine without spending too much money. The key is to focus on the most valuable resource available. Yes, you are right. I am talking about people.

Develop executive training programs: Contrary to what...

Innovation Update – two jobs, a conference and a book

by Stefan Lindegaard

Here you get some updates on the innovation front.

Lego and NineSigma have two attractive job openings. They are international jobs based in Denmark. You can read further here:

• Senior Manager, Open Innovation at Lego

• Senior Sales and Business Development Manager at NineSigma

In their 6^th year, The Front End of Innovation Europe conference in Zurich on Feb 27-29 continues to be a great place to be inspired on innovation. This year, I look forward to hearing Alexander Osterwalder on business model innovation and lots of corporate speakers. Check this link and get a 20 % discount with this code: FEI2012NINE

If you get to visit Silicon Valley this spring, you should consider dropping by at the Open...

Communication is Key to Successful Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Here are three reasons why communication is a key element if you want to succeed with open innovation.

• “We are in the matchmaking business.” This quote came from Chris Thoen, P&G during his presentation at the recent CoDev conference. Chris also stated that one of the key objectives of open innovation is to become the preferred partner of choice. As with any kind of matchmaking, we strive to find the best possible partner and in order to do so we must be able to articulate our propositions in an attractive manner. This is very much about communication.

• Open innovation needs to become top of mind within organizations; not just within innovation teams. By now, many innovation teams understand the value of open innovation...

You Always Have to Sell Innovation!

by Stefan Lindegaard

As an innovation leader or intrapreneur, you always have something to sell. In the end it is a product or a service, but during the development of a revenue-generator, you have to sell a vision to internal and external stakeholders.

You communicate that vision by:
•   Developing a value proposition that can be adapted for various stakeholders, and then
•   Capturing the very essence of the value proposition in a short and brief elevator pitch that focuses on the recipients of the message.

In Geoffrey Moore’s classic book, Crossing the Chasm, he provides the term “value proposition” as a way to choose from among what is presented to us for consideration. Options include choosing nothing at all, if there are no choices that...

Lego’s Open Innovation Strategy

by Stefan Lindegaard

NOTE: Check links on Lego’s open innovation efforts at the end of this post

Would you like to help define Lego’s open innovation strategy? Would you like to help build a culture at Lego where open innovation becomes an integrated part of doing business?

Then you should apply for this job: Senior Manager Open Innovation at Lego

Your mission will be to support Lego’s growth ambition by establishing a systematic and disciplined approach to open innovation. Lego define open innovation as “systematic value creation through collaboration with internal talent, external partners and consumers”.

You will help define the strategy, set best practice standards, design processes and build their open innovation toolbox. All of this to enable the organization to effectively leverage ideas and...

Making Open Innovation Work – Singapore, Sao Paulo and Beijing

by Stefan Lindegaard

I will be hosting 3 innovation sessions in Singapore, Sao Paulo and Beijing in the coming months. You can read more about the sessions below or on these links:

Singapore, January 20
Sao Paulo, March 9
Beijing, March 20

Let me know if you would like to work together on having such a session in your region.

Making Open Innovation Work
- Innovation Insights by Stefan Lindegaard

Many companies are moving beyond the basics of open innovation making this new paradigm of innovation even more complex, challenging – and rewarding. This is the outset for a session led by open innovation expert, Stefan Lindegaard, in which we look into these issues:

• Connecting the Dots: An overview of the many...

Branding with Books for Consultants, Entrepreneurs and Corporate Innovators

by Stefan Lindegaard

Question: What do consultants, entrepreneurs and even corporate innovators have in common?

Answer: They need to brand, promote themselves and their businesses.

I was recently asked about the business effects of my new book, Making Open Innovation Work, which was published in October. A book is a great way to brand and promote yourself and your business, but things are changing fast.

First, I want to state that I no longer believe the book to be as strong a marketing vehicle as it was just a few years ago. True, it is a great tool if your book becomes a bestseller, but so few books reach this goal that it does not make much sense discussing this.

Next, I have learned that consultants,...

Trust or Mistrust: What Should Be Key Mindset for Open Innovation?

by Stefan Lindegaard

Two months ago, I would never have raised this question. I would be all in for trust to be the key mindset needed when you engage in open innovation.

Being a Dane/Nordic, I prefer to trust others and I expect people to play hard, but fair when it comes to business.

But, and this is a big but, other people might have a different view and approach to life as well as business. They want to win no matter the means or costs. They don’t play by the rules – or they make up their own, new rules.

What happens when these mindsets collide when it comes to open innovation?

I recently had an interaction with a lawyer, who made a very good case that...