CoDev 2010: Get Ready to Expand Your Open Innovation Capabilities

by Stefan Lindegaard

I am really looking forward to attend the CoDev 2010 conference in Scottsdale, AZ on January 25-27.

Besides listening to keynotes, case studies and panel discussions, I will be giving a pre-conference workshop in which I will outline key elements in defining, structuring and implementing an open innovation strategy.

Some of the key issues that we will get into include:

• How to transition from a closed to an open innovation approach
• How to fit open innovation into your overall innovation strategy
• What new skills are required to make open innovation initiatives successful and how will you shift the company mindset and culture to support open innovation?
• What are the key issues to address when it comes to...

Are Books Really Critical Or Just On A Steep Decline?

by Stefan Lindegaard

There have been some great discussions on LinkedIn since I started out with this question:

“The attention span declines. Many have stopped reading books, longer blog posts don’t get much traffic while Twitter-traffic has exploded. What is your view on this?”

In the Leadership Think Tank group, we have had a lively discussion and Deborah Nixon posted this response earlier today:

“Books are critical. Blog posts and twitter info cannot be confirmed. Complex issues cannot be explored through blogs. Deep and thorough arguments take more time than a blog post. I worry about a future where people think twitter and blogs represents knowledge. They are good as intro to a deeper discussion but can’t replace the time and content a deep discussion requires.”...

Good Reads On Innovation #8

by Stefan Lindegaard

Here comes a list of reads, videos and podcasts on innovation that I have enjoyed and re-tweeted in the last couple of weeks. I hope you will enjoy this as well.

You can follow me on Twitter: @lindegaard

Is Collaboration or Competition Better for Innovation? by Stephen Shapiro
http://bit.ly/8RcmNS
  
Innovation is Not Free by Paul Sloane
http://bit.ly/8X5upz

MUST READ: Scouting For Innovation – great report by Nerac (summary on my blog):
http://bit.ly/5VhyrU

How Intuit Makes a Social Network Pay by BusinessWeek
http://bit.ly/bIJ6j

US vs China Parents – What skills do children need to be innovative? by Phil McKinney, HP
http://bit.ly/7IzRM8

Success in Innovation Requires IP Counseling on the Front End: Here’s How to...

Open Innovation and IPR: Where Are The Good Sources On This?

by Stefan Lindegaard

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is an important element of open innovation. As I am not a lawyer, I try to identify the best resources on this topic which is not always an easy task.

Jackie Hutter, who is a former corporate lawyer and one of my key sources on the topic has just written a long blog post titled: Success in Innovation Requires IP Counseling on the Front End: Here’s How to Make it Happen.

In her blog post, she wonders what innovation leaders should do, if innovation teams need IP lawyers involved in their projects, but IP lawyers generally do not operate well in their space.

It is a good question to which she also offers some suggestions. They are:

• Ensure that...

Scouting For Innovation – Must Read Report On Key Element For Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Nerac is a global research and advisory firm for companies developing innovative products and technologies. Two of their employees, Kristy Lutz Ulmer and Margaret Fiore, recently published a report on how companies scout for innovation.

I just got to read it and I find this to be great stuff that I want to share with you. You should also download the full report here: Innovation Scouting For 2009

The findings in the report fit well into a key thing being discussed in the open innovation community right now; the real effects of open innovation are due to behind-the-scenes activity rather than flashy portals and idea-generation campaigns.

The report has lots of great insights and the authors want to highlight these conclusions:

• Innovation scouts...

If You Can’t Innovate Across Silos, Don’t Expect To Succeed With Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Vertical integration is becoming a buzz-word in the business world. Wall Street Journal recently had a good article, Companies More Prone To Go Vertical, in which they gave many examples on how companies as diverse as PepsiCo, Oracle, Boeing, Apple, General Motors and ArcelorMittal have chosen vertical approaches.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the moves toward vertical integration are a departure from the past half-century, when companies increasingly specialized, shifting functions like manufacturing and procuring raw materials to others. Today, many companies want more control over their value chain. This also creates many more internal silos.

How does this affect innovation leaders who also find themselves in the midst of a paradigm shift in which we move from closed to open innovation?

I...

The Bullies of Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Large companies have always used their size and power to get things their way. This is no different with open innovation. So I am not surprised when I listen to people from smaller companies complain about the behaviours of large companies when they start working together.

Such behaviours were confirmed by several large companies at the recent Open Innovation Summit. They shared stories on how they had used their size and corporate power to get deals that favoured themselves and they even admitted that some deals could be so lop-sided that they could discourage other smaller companies from working with them.

This made me wonder whether it is just human nature to be a bully and use the power at hand. I reached the conclusion...

Sit And Think: How Restrooms Can Expand Your Mindset And Lead To Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Would it not be great if your colleagues always tried to expand their mindset and develop new ideas on innovation? As this does not always happen by itself, innovation leaders sometimes have to give them a little push.

And if you visit the restrooms at Novozymes, a world-leader in bio-innovations, you do not just get to sit down and do what you need to do in peace.

Their New Business Development unit wants their colleagues to capture business opportunities by looking at big trends and movements in the surrounding business world and the society.

What did they do? They developed a series of posters giving information on topics such as social innovation, green retailing, sustainable cities and life on the go.

The chosen trends...

Great Lessons From Orlando: The Open Innovation Summit

by Stefan Lindegaard

I enjoyed the inaugural Open Innovation Summit which took place in Orlando last week. As always, some speakers were better than others, but the overall quality was high and I really liked the networking part of the event. Most of the leading firms on open innovation were present and the same goes for the bloggers and thought-leaders on the topic.

I have inserted some articles, links, quotes and comments below. You should also check the #OIS09 Twitter stream which works as a great recap of the summit.

Andrea Meyer interviews James Todhunter, CTO at InventionMachine. A key point of this article is that when you are reviewing the ideas submitted to your open innovation portal, you need to identify ideas that have momentum and...

The Trash of Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

I recently had my first post on BusinessWeek. It was titled Open Innovation’s Champs and Also-Rans. In the post, I mention that open innovation is a hot topic at almost every company that is serious about innovation.

Why? Because the idea of combining internal and external resources to increase innovation productivity and prowess is just too good a value proposition to miss out on.

I also argued that only about 10% of all companies are adept enough at open innovation to get significant benefits today. Another 30% have seen the light and are scrambling to make open innovation work and provide results that are worth the bother. I call them contenders.

The other 60% are pretenders—companies that don’t really know what open innovation is...