The dinosaurs of open innovation
I am not really surprised. A couple of comments on my latest post, “Reflections From An Open Innovation Session,” hinted that several companies – especially within high tech and industries with few competitors – do not get open innovation. I am not surprised because there will always be some dinosaur companies that do not get “it” – whatever it is. They will have to pay later when it comes to open innovation.
In his comment, Jeffrey Tobias and Ian Sterrit told of meeting people who wondered whether open innovation is relevant for their companies. Open innovation is relevant for all companies. They just need to find a definition and a use of open innovation that fit their company. Open innovation will be used at different levels at different companies in different industries, but you cannot miss out on this.
Granted,there is a lot of hype about open innovation, but I believe the main idea behind open innovation – identify and use valuable external resources to make innovation happen – is just too good a value proposition. Companies must not miss out on this! Sorry for being a bit provocative here, but ignoring these resources is just plain arrogance, which leads to dinosaur-like behaviour and we all know what happened to the dinosaurs.
Wary companies also need to consider that this is a train that is already moving and it is moving faster and faster. You can always join the movement, but those that get on board sooner rather than later can gain significant competitive advantages over their competitors. Eco-systems need to form in all industries and not every company can become leaders in these systems.
I also need to put out a caution here. Open innovation is not the “holy grail” that instantly will solve all your problems. We still need to get back to basics, which in my mind is about creating an innovation strategy that is highly linked to the overall corporate strategy. Open innovation is just a part of the overall innovation strategy; you still need to do most of the internal things that are working well.
Actions to take
Which actions should innovation leaders take to get going with open innovation? I believe you need to:
- define open innovation in terms that fit your company and your industry.
- find proof that open innovation has worked for others; this is best if it’s in the same industry but inspiring cases from other industries also have value. The important thing here is to get documentation that validates investments in open innovation.
- develop compelling value propositions on why open innovation will work in your company for your stakeholders. Use the documentation and remember that open innovation in the early phases is more about mindset rather than processes and structures.
- understand and manage intellectual property issues as they can turn into make-or-break situations.
- show a path for implementation. What are the resources (people, money, use of assets etc) needed to make innovation happen? Which projects are relevant to start out with?
- help your executives identify and agree upon a few simple metrics that will make it possible for you to determine whether open innovation works and thus requires even more focus.
Please, do not be a dinosaur on this : – )
Thank you for a thought provoking article. I agree totally with you. In the public and not for profit sector, the issue is not so much IPR but being credited with the work. People may not share as resources are finite and funding/contracting climate may produce a competitive environment that prevents collaboration. Though, I am not convinced about this view – one can only succeed by not standing still and keeping innovating.
How can I share you article with colleagues not on Linkedin? Thanks.
reposted across from your article “Reflections from an open innovation session” as it straddles both.
Stefan,
Clearly you are a champion of open innovation and for good reason but taking some companies or industries into the dinosaur category because they might be struggling from within is perhaps a little harsh. Moving from championing to being a reactionary might be doing the opposite of what you ’see’.
Is it so simple that “they just need to find a definition and a use of open innovation that fit their company…….and you cannot miss out on this”
It is certainly as you say “I believe the main idea behind open innovation – identify and use valuable external resources to make innovation happen – is just too good a value proposition”
Surely stopping and thinking through where open innovation WILL FIT and WHY beyond the current (and growing) users will help bring more into the fold.
Clearly there is considerable struggles going on around this concept and until people like you (and me) can clear the path a little more, to separate the wheat from the chaff, and separate the various theories, hype, different offerings and clarify in a well laid out, logical thinking through process what open innovation can clearly help to resolve their barriers or pain points. we might be guilty of being the old fashion medicine man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_man) offering cure-alls and over simplifying.
I wanted to add to my comments that your actions to take from your dinosaurs of open innovation article to begin the thinking through necessary might help by adding in the broad universe of innovation types (Geoffrey Moore’s Dealing with Darwin) as helpful in this.