5 Companies that Inspire, Impress on Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

Here comes a list of my current favorite companies that inspire and impress me on innovation.

The list is by no means based on in-depth research. It is based on actions, initiatives or shared insights of these companies over the last month or so – and thus what I believe could inspire other companies.

1. GE – for continuously developing the Ecomagination challenge

The challenge is highly successful and now they are even launching a specific challenge for China. GE has created a very interesting innovation vehicle – which also doubles as a good PR tool – and they are right in to continuously push it forward to create more value for themselves and their partners.

2. LEGO – for showing...

Philips: An Open Innovation Company

by Stefan Lindegaard

Many companies have learnt that the key element of open innovation is not a fancy portal or destination site, but the infrastructure within the company. The real work happens behind the scene and my interactions with Philips tell me that they are doing a good job here.

They seem to understand that open innovation is very much about preparing the organization to embrace external contributions to the innovation process. This is a long, tough journey and it is more about creating the right mindset than ”just” getting the right processes in place.

At Philips, signs of this mindset go back to the creation of the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven in 2003. This has been followed with the drive towards external input in...

Social Media for Innovation Brings More Questions than Answers

by Stefan Lindegaard

The use of social media services and tools in innovation efforts bring more questions than answers. This was concluded after a session I led on the open innovation meets social media intersection.

Interestingly enough, only 1 out of 17 participants, who were a mix of corporate and university people believed that the use of social media for innovation was highly overhyped. So it is not really the why that is being questioned; it is the how.

We lack good cases especially on how B2B companies use social media for innovation. The cases we discussed/liked at the session were IBM’s Innovation Jam, Psion’s Ingenuity Working, LEGO Cuusoo and GE’s Ecomagination Challenge.

I have no doubt other cases will...

Culture, Speed and Process – Key Elements for Innovation

by Stefan Lindegaard

I stumbled over some notes from a recent panel session I did with John Johnson, Spigit (formerly PepsiCo) and Navin Kunde from Clorox.

John and Navin are great innovators, our session went well and I think the insights are worth sharing. The session was on how we can better learn from failure and we focused on three elements. Here you get the notes:

Culture/environment: Smart failing equals success! Innovation by chance or serendipity is rare and rather the organization needs to foster a culture and environment that encourages failure as a success. Tolerance will evolve with success.

Organizations need more Type 2 people who are fearful of missing out on opportunities – check this article on Type 1 and Type 2 people:...

Innovation Never Goes According to Plan – Prepare for that!

by Stefan Lindegaard

The beauty – as well as the beast – of innovation is that it never goes according to plan. Consider this:

Innovation happens now, but it will be delivered in the future. The future is unpredictable.

Innovation happens between people. People are unpredictable.

Open innovation not only brings more opportunities. It also brings more complexity.

Value must be delivered in a global context – and faster than ever.

Most startups turn their business plans upside down at least once during the first year. There is a reason for this.

The window of opportunity gets smaller and the fast pace of business makes it a moving target. Nothing is status quo anymore.

You need to accept that innovation never goes according to plan – and prepare for...

Free Agents, Free Minds in a New Decade

by Stefan Lindegaard

It has been almost 10 years since Daniel Pink wrote, Free Agent Nation, in which he looked into the seismic shift in attitudes about and patterns of work in the economy from the early 1950s era of William Whyte’s The Organization Man to today’s independent worker, the free agent.

I am a free agent myself and I plan to share my successes and failures, gains and pains as being a free agent here on my blog and on Google+. I also plan to do lots of research on what it takes to become a successful free agent in what will be the decade of social media. It would be great if you would help on this research. First, we...

What Can We Learn from Lego? Where Are the Limits? Open For Discussion

by Stefan Lindegaard

My post on Lego Cuusoo attracted lots of attention. It also spurred lots of comments and good questions on LinkedIn and elsewhere. One came from Yali Elkin who wrote this:

”Thanks for posting, Stefan. As a father of young kids, I can appreciate the genius of Lego. But what do you think are the limits of this approach? I’m sure it’s feasible to some extent in other products with passionate and technically-savvy fans (cars, motorcycles, cameras, firearms). But how far can this model be workably extended?”

I think Yali’s questions work well for an open discussion. What can we learn from Lego? Where are the limitations for their Lego Cuusoo approach, which blends crowdsourcing/co-creation with open innovation?

A few starters from me: If...

You Gotta Love Lego – Crowdsourcing meets Open Innovation!

by Stefan Lindegaard

Yes, you gotta love Lego! Not only is the company doing amazingly well during this ”crisis”; they are also constantly experimenting with new ways of working together with partners.

Their new thing is Lego Cuusoo. Here Lego has teamed up with Cuusoo, which is a Japanese pioneer of user innovative product design that introduced a design-to-order process already in 1998.

This image gives you a good explanation of the project:

Sofar only 1 project has been realized, but once Lego Cuusoo expands beyond Japan and thus activates the huge international fan base, this could turn into an interesting vehicle for Lego.

I think this is a great example on how crowdsourcing/co-creation (users create projects, try to get support) mixes with...

Direction, Training and Time – Requirements for Success

by Stefan Lindegaard

Yesterday, I gave a presentation on Open Innovation Meets Social Media in Bergen, Norway. One question went like this: What can be done to enable organizations to extract value out of social media?

The question got me to think back on an encounter I had with an executive a few years back. I had just given a presentation that among other topics touched upon how networking is becoming an important element for creating an innovation culture. During this talk, I pointed out that successful networking efforts at a corporate level require a strategic reason that sets the direction, the training and education of employees and the time needed for employees to build and nurture networks.

After the talk, I spoke with the executive...

An Overview of Social Media Tools and Services for Open Innovation Efforts

by Stefan Lindegaard

On the intersection of open innovation and social media, I find these tools and services to be the most relevant.

Communities: Open innovation has many channels for business opportunities – virtually as well as physically. There is a growing need for companies to have a strong destination site, and I believe we will see a shift in which this has to look more like a community rather than pure needs/assets sites such as P&G’s Connect+Develop. Communities will have a mix of content, business functions such as needs /assets listings and social networking features.

Ingenuity Working is an example. With over 12,000 registered users in the community, the site receives over 60,000 visitors per month. Adoption has been so successful that it has more...