How to Use Twitter for Innovation and Beyond

by Stefan Lindegaard

In this video post, I share some views and insights on how you can use Twitter for innovation – and beyond. I hope you get some value out of this : – )

Big Vs. Small Companies: Where Are the Differences on Innovation?

by Stefan Lindegaard

Anyone who has worked for both a large corporation and a small, entrepreneurial company can talk endlessly about the differences in the two cultures and mindsets. The differences can be stark. Let’s look at a few that impact the way the two types of organizations approach open innovation:

• Speed of decision-making: Large corporations, with their abundance of silos and bureaucratic levels, often require considerable time to make decisions. Analysis paralysis is not uncommon, with decisions that seem simple to an outsider taking ages to make. In contrast, in smaller organizations decision making can be fairly rapid.

Thus, when these two types of organizations come together in open innovation, the smaller company may find the speed of progress frustratingly slow. At the same time, the...

Thought Leadership: What Is It and How To Do It?

by Stefan Lindegaard

According to Wikipedia, a thought leader is a futurist or person who is recognized for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights

How does this apply to the real world? I am still thinking on this, but here are my early reflections:

• You need to be original in your thinking.

• You must have enough edge to force people to have an opinion.

• You must address issues that broaden everyone’s horizon.

• You must act as a gate-keeper that finds and share relevant information.

• You need to build a following that buy into and help spread your ideas.

What do you think? What can you add?

The Complexity – and Opportunities – in Ecosystems

by Stefan Lindegaard

At a recent session, Rick Wielens, VP Marketing & Sales at NineSigma presented how NineSigma views an ecosystem.

I like the image as it gives a good understanding on the many relationships to be build and nurtured in open innovation efforts. It also shows that ecosystems are complex, but full of opportunities.

Let me know if you can share links to good articles or images on ecosystems.

Get Exposure in Open Innovation Books! Controversial, Yes…But Value for All

by Stefan Lindegaard

I will be publishing two new books this August. One book will be on how big and small companies view open innovation differently and how they can find common ground despite these differences. The other book will be a roadmap on open innovation based on my blog posts and corporate cases.

I have decided to self-publish these two books as I have lost faith in the traditional publishing model. One key reason is that it would take about 9 months before you would get the chance to read my books and with the fast pace of change we see in business today, some of the content will be outdated by then.

The self-publishing model opens up the opportunity for involving partners in my book projects....

Do Companies Really Need Internal Innovation Units?

by Stefan Lindegaard

Do companies really need internal innovation units in times where industry after industry has begun embracing open or external innovation?

The question was triggered by comments made to a couple of my recent blog posts. It did not take much reflection. Of course, we need internal innovation units as they deliver value by themselves and since they hold key future roles as facilitators and integrators of internal and external contributions.

A quick note on this is that companies need to establish systems and processes that allow and judge internal and external innovation opportunities on equal terms.

So yes, we do need internal innovation units, but it is fair to question what they should look like and what functions they should perform. Things are changing fast...

Does The Smartest Guy in the Room Kill Innovation?

by Stefan Lindegaard

In a recent blog post, I gave some views on why executives do not get innovation. Carolyn Merkel added an interesting comment on this:

“I also think ego gets in the way. I have often listened to the CEO make comments like “now, I’m not the smartest guy in the room…” when it is clear that he thinks that he IS the smartest guy in the room, and then, when he doesn’t understand the innovation, he dismisses it.”

I believe there is some truth to this, but since I only have an outside view being a speaker and advisor, I would appreciate hearing from corporate people on this. Is this a big issue – not just with the CEO but also...

Five Reasons Why CEO’s Don’t Get Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Here are five reasons why I believe CEOs and other top executives often don’t support innovation, even though the business climate of our time demands it:

• The demand for short-term gains nearly always wins the day. Top executives at public companies are under enormous pressure to produce strong financial results each and every quarter. This is the area where they are rewarded for producing results, and their job security increasingly depends on it.

• They missed out on innovation education. Many of today’s top executives got their business education before innovation was a significant part of the curriculum at many MBA programs. They could compensate for this with experience, but many also missed on-the-job training, because innovation training usually happens from the top down,...

10 Examples of Open Innovation in High-Tech and B2B Companies

by Stefan Lindegaard

I was recently asked for examples on high-tech companies that practice open innovation. It is a good question as we most often see open innovation examples among low-tech and fast-moving-consumer-good companies.

Nevertheless, open innovation is relevant for all industries and we are starting to see high-tech and b2b companies with open innovation-like initiatives that are visible to the public eye. Some examples:

Psion – www.ingenuityworking.com

Medtronic – www.medtronic.com/innovation/

Cisco – www.cisco.com/web/solutions/iprize/index.html

DSM – http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/dlc/home_dlc.htm

HP – www.hpl.hp.com/open_innovation/

SAP – http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/coil

Shell (GameChanger) – www.shell.com/home/content/innovation/

Xerox – http://open.xerox.com/

Weyerhaeuser – www.growingideas.com/#/innovation/

Intuit – www.intuitcollaboratory.com

It is important to notice that many of these companies...

When R&D Leaders Are a Threat to Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

I recently had a discussion with a senior innovation leader in a mid-size high-tech company. The guy turned out to be pretty skeptical on open innovation and although I agree that open innovation to some extent is hype, I was still somewhat ticked off by his mindset.

Personally, I do not have much reason to care about this. Business is picking up again and there is a growing demand for insights on open innovation. However, people without an open mind simply should not have senior innovation roles. An internal focused mind-set might have worked in the past, but leaders today need to be able to build a bridge between internal and external resources. This goes for all industries – from consumer goods companies...