Skip to content

Choosing Open Innovation for A Positive Collaboration

There are two types of open innovation to consider. Inbound innovation is about sourcing and acquiring expertise from outside the organization, and researching the external environment for new information to identify, select, utilize and internalize ideas. The second type of outbound innovation is the intended commercialization of internally developed ideas to the open market. This might be through selective revealing of a product to journalists and reviewers or selectively selling the technology or service to customers with a view to getting feedback.

The process of open innovation involves actively seeking out inputs from outside sources such as customers, suppliers, universities and start-ups in order to create new products or services. As the Internet has grown and leveled the playing field, this approach has become increasingly popular among organizations looking to leverage the resources of their networks for competitive advantage.

Adapting To A Crisis

As the coronavirus pandemic intensified, it increased pressure on companies and constricted supply chains. Open innovation became an important avenue for companies looking for new partnerships to foster creative solutions for their specific issues. Whether or not you are in a crisis, open innovation remains a legitimate option. Certainly, in a time of crisis open innovation stepped up with a sense of urgency to transform ways of thinking and ways of doing business.

Companies are turning to this open innovation process but like any system there are pitfalls and potential. As the authors note in “Why Now is the Time for Open Innovation,” from the Harvard Business Review, companies that partner must put aside their differences and work together for the benefit of all. The authors write, “Making it work, however, requires that companies: momentarily put aside traditional concerns over IP to focus on other approaches to creating value; leverage their partners’ motivations effectively to maintain a productive working relationship; embrace new partners; and commit to the projects they pursue through open innovation to reap their benefits.”

Build A Culture Of Innovation

All Things Innovation recently looked at tactics and strategies in how to “Ignite a Culture of Innovation.” From the successes to the failures, from the breakthroughs to the breaking points, the innovation community knows all too well that fostering a culture of innovation on your team is a key part of a winning formula. In this sense, it’s not just what you create but how you create it.

Building a culture and community of innovation is no easy task, yet it’s important to give your team a sense of innovation and a mission that permeates the entire process, as well as the organization as a whole. Through this atmosphere of innovation, true collaboration can take place, with risk taking encouraged, without fear of failure. Empowering your employees is also key to the process. One must embrace a culture of upskilling and adaptation, and take ownership of the innovation process. Take on challenges and encourage creativity. Reward both success and failure. Create a healthy environment that is filled with curiosity. Enhance an atmosphere where team members are willing to challenge, dissent and question one another and the status quo.

Engage With the Community

So how can one create and encourage a community of open innovation? As noted by ChatGPT, there needs to be a lot of engagement and communication for the parties involved. Whatever type of platform is used, gaining feedback and input on the project is invaluable.

  1. Create a platform for open collaboration: Establish an online community where people can share ideas, discuss solutions and build on each other’s work. This could be a forum, blog or even a social media group.
  2. Foster transparency: Make sure that everyone knows what is happening in the community by providing regular updates and progress reports. Encourage members to openly contribute their ideas and opinions while also recognizing those who take initiative and make valuable contributions.
  3. Reward contributors: Show appreciation for active participation by offering rewards such as recognition, prizes or discounts for products developed through the process of open innovation initiatives.
  4. Engage with stakeholders: Reach out to potential customers, partners and industry experts to get feedback on your projects so you can continuously improve them over time based on user input and data analysis insights from different perspectives outside of the team itself.
  5. Promote creativity: Give members space to think freely without any predetermined boundaries or restrictions – this will help foster creative thinking that leads to innovative solutions rather than relying solely on traditional methods of problem-solving.

True Collaboration

Often overlooked or seen as a drawback, collaboration, in times of crisis or otherwise, is the hero of the open innovation story. Open innovation is often a more decentralized and participatory way of doing business, a method that many traditional companies often find uncomfortable because they might not have total control of the process or can’t anticipate unforeseen circumstances that may arise.

Yet there is great potential for value creation with open innovation. Opportunities abound for those that realize that a two-sided open partnership can motivate both teams to create new avenues of growth and spark creative ideas. As the Harvard Business Review authors assert, “It allows for many more ways to create value, be it through new partners with complementary skills or by unlocking hidden potential in long-lasting relationships. In a crisis, open innovation can help organizations find new ways to solve pressing problems and at the same time build a positive reputation. Most importantly it can serve as a foundation for future collaboration.”

Video courtesy of World Economic Forum

Contributor

  • Matt Kramer

    Matthew Kramer is the Digital Editor for All Things Insights & All Things Innovation. He has over 20 years of experience working in publishing and media companies, on a variety of business-to-business publications, websites and trade shows.

 
 

Related Content

innovation partnerships

Balancing the Innovation Partnership

Startup and corporate partnerships are a delicate balancing act but one that can maximize innovation success for both partners. Certainly, there are c…

innovation culture

Unlocking Growth Through Innovation

The business world is changing quickly for innovators and there is a growing and ever-present imperative to keep up. Business model transformations an…

innovation culture

Living in A Digital Transformation World

Digital transformation (DX) has been a hot topic in the innovation space for some time, but the term can be easily misunderstood as well. As we accele…

innovation culture

Sustaining the Self-Disruption Journey

The adage “disrupt or be disrupted” may not necessarily always mean the same thing to the same companies. Even the original architects of disrupti…

innovation culture

Playing the Game of Disruption

At FEI, Angelina Carvajal, Strategy & Innovation Partner, Sr. Dir. (Optum Advisory), UnitedHealth Group, had a chance to share her thoughts on disrupt…

innovation mindset

Creating the Happiness Mindset for Innovation

With 2023 often being labeled the year of uncertainty, it comes as no surprise that consumers, and the innovation community, has had its fair share of…

innovation culture

Breaking Through Challenges to Problem Solve

While it’s important to learn from best practices from large and innovative enterprises, it’s also valuable to hear from the startup community. At…

Innovation Resources
digital transformation

External Partnerships Fuel Innovation

As part of the continuing series of conversations at FEI with All Things Innovation’s Seth Adler, next on tap is Eric Agdeppa, R&D Director, Innovat…

innovation culture

Opening the Doors of Innovation Perception

Seth Adler of All Things Innovation caught up with Cory Sorice, SVP and Chief Innovation Officer, Masonite International, during this year’s FEI con…

disruption

Beyond Innovation Theater

At FEI, All Things Innovation conducted a special roundtable, bringing cross industry, cross disciplinarians together to talk about transformation and…

innovation leadership

The Finance Factor in Innovation

The finance function in an organization often gets tabbed as a bottom line-oriented, conservative department that more often than not stifles innovati…

innovation team

Setting the Strategic Direction

A chief strategy officer (CSO) is increasingly becoming a more relevant element to a research and development team in an organization. An innovation t…

business innovation

Managing the Marketing of Innovation

Even some of the best new innovations might fail if there’s no effective marketing behind the product or service. With an emphasis on cross-collabor…

data analytics

Playing Moneyball for the Win

In the popular baseball movie “Moneyball,” the character Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) highlights the “epic failure” of MLB leadership in managin…

innovation talent

Putting Together Your Innovation Team

As the community’s recent Innovation Spend & Trends Report indicated, innovation teams are not working in a bubble, or at least not as much as they…

innovation frameworks

Sizing Up Your Innovation’s Impact

If your company has successfully developed an innovative product or service, you might be at the stage of the process known as scalability. Perhaps yo…

disruption

Leading with Product Innovation

At its core, in the consumer packaged goods world, an innovative product can make an impact in the marketplace and stand out with a focus on newness….

human resources

Managing Talent to Drive Innovation

With the economy producing mixed signals, and companies often in a state of flux, managing innovation talent has never been a more challenging and imp…

innovation culture

Balancing Innovation with Ambidexterity

Innovators have long been tasked with being a flexible part of an ambidextrous team, as part of an organizational cog that can easily pivot and manage…

breakthrough innovation

Defining Disruptive Innovation

Disruptive innovation is often a phrase used to make a splash in the business world. Some may debate that the label has been applied carelessly at tim…

innovation culture

Growing a Culture for Business Innovation

Whether it entails a large jump or a small step, the innovation pipeline for a business keeps it moving forward through a competitive landscape. Busin…

human resources

Tapping Into the Innovation Talent Pipeline

In the last few years, the pandemic and a range of other economic factors have influenced the talent recruitment, development and retention practices…

innovation talent

Ignite a Culture of Innovation

From the successes to the failures, from the breakthroughs to the breaking points, the innovation community knows all too well that fostering a cultur…

innovation strategy

Innovation During A Downturn

Whether you believe the USA is headed toward or already in a recession, there are signs of a slowing or reversal of economic activity. Of the 15 metri…

product innovation

Innovating Through the Metaverse

The Metaverse is a shifting, undefined topic, which is currently the center of much speculation and hype. However, at its center, the concept of the M…

start-ups

Perspectives On Corporate Venturing

The Rolling Stones might have famously sung, “Start Me Up,” back in the 1980s, and Microsoft later tapped the tune for its Windows 95 marketing ca…

start-ups

Start-Up Partnerships

We’re providing the opportunity to gather through roundtable discussions each month leading up to FEI. Our third roundtable discussion focuses on pa…

innovation talent

From Boredom To Burnout

This roundtable discussion focuses on arguably the most important feature of an innovation discipline, talent. We have a diverse panel of innovation l…

fostering innovation

Fostering Innovation

When you start to talk that way and lead that way, people do feel more psychologically safe to support change and support innovation that’s happenin…

technology

Innovation Reality

When working remotely, the main challenge is bringing people into an office when they live across the country or around the world. The AES Corporation…

partnerships

Innovation Ventures

The movement for startups and corporate venturing is becoming more and more of a trend in organizations according to Chris Varley, Principal of Goodye…

innovation talent

Control The Sails

Although the world was affected heavily with change in the last few years, not much in the business world has changed as far as topics and issues go….

innovation talent

Innovation Culture

Innovation starts with the employees of an organization. As we know, the people that work for a business are some of its greatest assets. In today’s…

ideation

Interaction Innovation

We are at a time in history of incredible change and technological innovations, such as the rise of machine intelligence, and companies who keep doing…

insights

Measurable Innovation

Each company has their own KPIs that are important to their specific business in place to progress and be successful. Are people at the forefront of i…

innovation culture

Certain Uncertainty

Life is uncertain in every way. It’s always interesting to meet new people and try new things. On the other hand, attackers may sometimes appear out o…

innovation culture

Rolling Innovation

If you’ve done it once, you can do it again. Make sure to keep doing it, it’s rolling innovation. Amber Case sits down with us to discuss how impo…

innovation culture

Innovation Intelligence

It seems that innovation is one of the biggest buzzwords in business now. To sustain growth and be competitive in the marketplace, companies in every…

innovation culture

Innovation As Constant Change

The key strategy to a successful business is to know when they are being innovative or are just transforming their status quo according to market tren…