Where’s the Value? – Put Others Before Yourself

by Stefan Lindegaard

How can I benefit from this? Whether we like it or not, this is the most common question people ask when they are presented with new opportunities or options.

This is no different when you visit corporate open innovation or crowdsourcing platforms. You can find several of such examples in this blog post, Open Innovation Examples and Resources.

Potential contributors to such platforms will ask a simple question: How can I benefit from this?

Unfortunately, most platforms do a poor job of explaining the value to these people. Often, there is more information on how the platform can bring value to the company, but honestly: Who – outside the company itself – cares about this?

Companies need to turn their approach on this...

The Dark Side of Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

What are the most significant negative side effects of open innovation? A BusinessWeek editor made me ponder on this and I must admit I have some difficulties finding many negative side effects.

One reason is that I am a very positive advocate of open innovation. This makes it harder to see the bigger picture including the negative issues related to open innovation. However, I try to stay open minded and I do have a few negative things in mind.

One thing is that the level of complexity in the innovation process will increase due to the many stakeholders. How will this affect the innovation process as well as the organizational setup?

Another thing is that many executives will have trouble developing a clear strategy resulting...

Open Innovation Goes All the Way

by Stefan Lindegaard

Open innovation should take place throughout the innovation process. Not just in the early phases during what we call the front end of innovation.

Too often, companies fall into this trap. Once they have gotten input from external sources during the front end of innovation, they do everything themselves. Granted, it is a good thing to get a more diverse input early on, but why stop here.

Companies miss out on the full potential of open innovation when they more or less deliberately shut down for external resources later in the process.

I think this happens because companies are more willing to accept external input during the front end of innovation where everyone expects more creativity and openness.

Once this phase is completed, companies go...

How IBM Innovates – Open and Global

by Stefan Lindegaard

Anders Quitzau, an Innovation Executive at IBM forwarded an interesting presentation that gives a good overview of the many innovation activities that take place at IBM.

How IBM Innovates – Anders Quitzau

Some keywords are open and global as summed up by this quote by Sam Palmisano:

“We opened up our labs, said to the world, ‘Here are our crown jewels, have at them’. The Jam – and programs like it – are greatly accelerating our ability to innovate in meaningful ways for business and society” – Sam Palmisano, CEO.

Anders, thanks for sharing this…

Interesting Report on Open Innovation: Siemens Pictures of the Future

by Stefan Lindegaard

Siemens publishes Pictures of the Future, which is a magazine on research and innovation. In their spring 2010 issue, they focus on open innovation. There are several articles worth checking out and I have highlighted some of those I liked below.

Tapping New Worlds of Ideas: This article gives an overview on how Siemens views and works with open innovation.

Open Innovation as a Success Factor: This article has some interesting facts compiled by Grant Thornton on the Origins of the Best Ideas and Companies’ Opinions on Open Innovation.

Open Innovation: Scenario 2020: This article delivers a bid on how we work with gigantic global knowledge networks in virtual space in 2020.

From Concepts to Companies: This article gives us a look into...

When Good Laughs Inspire Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Have you ever thought that bringing people together on innovation is like hearding cats? Cheryl Perkins, founder of InnovationEdge made me laugh when she included this video in her presentation.

How do we change people’s behaviour? Thefuntheory.com is a site that is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

The site has several fun and inspiring videos. This is one of my favourites.

Tom Fishbourne makes some great cartoons. I think this one shows that internal forces often...

Good Reads on Innovation #19

by Stefan Lindegaard

Here comes a list of blog posts and articles on innovation that I have enjoyed the last week or so. I hope you will enjoy this as well. You can follow me on Twitter: @lindegaard

• Crowdsourcing Has Its 15 Minutes of Fame by Sarah Firisen http://bit.ly/cCIgT7

• Be More Innovative Today – Make Fresh Insightful Connections by Tim Kastelle http://bit.ly/9TH2Mv

• Three levels of trust on Open Innovation by Jose Baldaia http://bit.ly/dqEouY

• Moving Beyond Open Innovation by Anthony Townsend – http://bit.ly/dBi9PT

• Future R&D Strategies in Food & Drinks: Evolution from orthodox approaches to open innovation models http://url4.eu/3UUxo

• Innovation Failure Points – Strangled in the Crib by Jeffrey Phillips http://bit.ly/9lwCuo

• Book Review by Braden Kelley...

Open Innovation Event in Silicon Valley – Thursday May 27

by Stefan Lindegaard

I am giving a talk at the Innovation Center Denmark in Palo Alto on May 27 at 6-8.30pm.

Join this session and get these benefits:

• a better understanding of what open innovation is and why it matters

• insights on the open innovation successes and failures made by others

• an assessment of whether YOU have the mindset and skills needed to succeed with open innovation

You can register at this link: The Open Innovation Revolution, May 27

Innovation Center Denmark acts as the bridge between Silicon Valley and Denmark in ICT, Clean Tech and Life Sciences.

A Consultant’s Approach to Open Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

What does a consultant focus on when having a first talk with a potential client looking for help on open innovation issues?

Let me share my thoughts on this. Perhaps other consultants – or someone from the client side – will share more insights on this.

First, I try to get an idea of their current initiatives. What have they already done? What is working and what is not working? I try to understand if they have to start from scratch, make major changes to their current initiatives or if they “just” have to improve their current initiatives and approaches.

Here, I really try to pick up on any red flags that they might have. Check this blog post on what such warning signs can...

Interesting Facts on Open Innovation, LinkedIn

by Stefan Lindegaard

I decided to look into how the term “open innovation” is profiled on LinkedIn.

I found 2,782 profiles that include the term “open innovation”.

The companies with the most profiles are Philips (50), Unilever (47), P&G (32), GSK (19), General Mills (19), Kraft Foods (18), InnoCentive (14), NineSigma (14) and Nokia (11).

The locations with the most profiles are United States (838), Netherlands (410), United Kingdom (304), Germany (130), Spain (109), France (108) and Italy (83). I knew that the Netherlands has a strong focus on innovation, but this number amazes me.

The industries with the most profiles are Management Consulting (377), Information Technology and Services (264), Research (221), Consumer Goods (187), Telecommunications (113), Food & Beverages (83), Internet (82), Chemicals (80), Computer...