Perspectives on Innovation » business week

The Next Wave of Open Innovation

Connie French — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:43:54 +0000

InnoCentive was profiled in Business Week today in an article called “The Next Wave of Open Innovation: How InnoCentive aims to exploit sophisticated technology and networking capabilities to connect problems with their potential solvers”. It’s a great piece that positions InnoCentive nicely at the forefront of open innovation. I think the single most important message that comes across in the article – and they say it a few times – is the notion that organizations will find success in innovation by looking outside of their own organizations, primarily because it often takes people outside the core focus to present a solution. This left field aspect is something that we have found to be true again and again, both in independent research conducted by academics like Karim Lakhani, and in conversations with our Seekers, who continue to be surprised about where solutions to their Challenges are found. There is no better example of this than that of Solver John Davis, who used his expertise in the concrete industry to solve a Challenge about removing oil from the bottom of the ocean.

I was also pleased to see the recognition of how valuable working in teams can be in solving complex problems. More and more we’re finding out that Challenges are being solved by self-forming groups, which is why we’re working to create more community features for our Solvers.

It’s great to see open innovation hit the mainstream – and this kind of exposure is beneficial for all of the innovative companies that have given open innovation a place of prominence in their corporate strategy.

Can America Invent It’s Way Back?

Liz Moise — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:22:41 +0000

Many of you wrote in response to my question last week, Can innovation work at the National Government level in America? I want to thank you for your thoughtful feedback, it’s fantastic to see such a lively debate!

Over the weekend, Business Week published an article on a similar topic, entitled Can America Invent Its Way Back? They delved into what they term innovation economics, and the reasons that innovation could soon become essential in our economy. They also published a video interview with, Michael Mandel, who is the Chief Economist for Business Week.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this piece and the topic of innovation economics. Will innovation, particularly open innovation, keep America competetive? I’m particularly interested to hear from those of you who live outside the US on this one. How much has open innovation (or crowdsourcing) caught on where you live?

Business Week: How InnoCentive is still Innovative

Liz Moise — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:49:25 +0000

Business Week is featuring a recent interview with CEO Dwayne Spradlin as this week’s Innovation of the Week Podcast. Innovation Department editor Reena Jana asks how InnoCentive remains on the cutting edge of innovation. Listen to it here and tell us what you think!