Things are much easier on the web today with the innovation of search engines for information, online marketplaces like ebay for unique items or eharmony for dates.  The same can be said for innovation, there is so much out there but it is often simply not in the hands of the people or companies that best utilize it.  Take a software company right now that is looking at their product roadmap and thinking about what new product and/or features to add.  I am confident that somewhere in the world that 80% of the time someone has already solved and coded the feature/function that you seek.  But due to transaction (aka search) costs - it is easier to build it than to search for the needle in the haystack.

This dilemma is exactly what Open Innovation seeks to solve.  It is easy to see with tangible goods where even my 6 year old picks up the value of using ebay when searching for Nintendo DS games or Scooby Doo videos.  But what about things like software or the next great environmentally friendly package design.  What if those inventions were not conceived by people with the motivation and/or insight on how to turn them into commercial innovations? 
Waste, that is what happens.  The next big boost in economic growth (usually driven by productivity gains) will be based on a new model for sharing, searching and implementing on other people’s ideas.

I am confident that if we continue breaking down the traditional linear product/service development cycle into a more fluid, interconnected process that the pace of Innovation will begin to expand.  Look for additional posts on what I think it will take to create this shift in Innovation toward a new ecosystem for growth.

I don’t know if any of you are fans of the hit TV game show, Cash Cab on Discovery.  It is hosted by Ben Bailey.  I love trivia so the concept appeals to me along with the random nature of participation which appeals to the treasure hunter in me too.  I’m always on the look out for Ben and his mini-van taxi when in New York City.  I’ll be in NYC next week Ben if you are reading.  I digress.

On my last (best) trip I also met with a leading edge Open Innovation, or more specifically Service Innovation consulting group out of Alexandria, VA - Peer Insight.  It was co-founded by Tim Ogilvie and Jeneanne Rae about five years ago.  Read up on them on their site I won’t rehash their vitals.  Jeneanne is also a regular contributor to BusinessWeek in said areas.

I mention them, beyond the fact that both Tim and Jeneanne are fascinating and super bright individuals, because they have nailed down an exceptional model for service economy corporations looking to innovate.  Quick test:  are you breathing, yes;  are you in business, yes.  Then your corporation is in the service economy.  I won’t give away the goods here; you should contact them and ask for their white paper entitled: “The Six Secrets to Business Model Exploration”.  Kudos to Gordon Hui, VP of Consulting @ PI…

For us at Fluid, we are working hard behind the scenes to know as many industry leaders as we can to learn and exchange best practices ideas that will shape the Open Innovation industry.  Better yet we have an idea to assemble the best of Open Innovation for the masses.

If you have experience working with the best and brightest in this business I want to know about them.  Thus the street shout out…

Tom 

Hey back from my vacation to the heartland of America.  Nothing like a 1900 mile road-trip with gas @ $4.00/gallon.  It was a great time to reflect on the business of open innovation while staring at a few hundred thousand acres of corn from the Interstate.  I am still working my way through Game Changers by A.G. and Ram - some very good stuff - meaty;  spoiler alert…it will take the will of the entire firm to make your firm anywhere close to what they’ve done.  Good news is you can and, well, you’ll have to eventually…

I also read some great work from McKinsey here, Forrester (we were interviewed for this one) here and a recent one from Deloitte and Beeline Labs here.

On the tail end of the trip I had to leave and get back to work (start-up and all) and I have to say it was the best business trip over my tenure at Fluid Innovation.  Not because of some blockbuster order or new client signed (those are quite spectacular as well), but rather because one of our existing clients is: a) fascinated with the precepts of open innovation, b)actually doing something about, c) clearly sees how it will help them in nearly every facet of their business but will have an immediate economic impact.

The news is they are willing to do things “right”.  This isn’t going to be a one and done effort to retool the corporation with a bunch of internal portal content, buzzwords from management, HR policy and a huge technology investment for some unnecessary consulting and software that will “change their world”.   No huge co-creation labs and open solicitations for new, cool ideas to run their business. 

Their “wild” request was can we use our tools and marketplace internally so we can be certain that new innovations that we create in one division can be advertised, marketed and sold (think internal dollars here) to another division. Much of what they do doesn’t regularly see the light of day because of their client list, but between their clients there is very good reason to share.  They know they have tons of cross over in reinventing the same solutions or pieces of what could become a blockbuster solution if bundled together. Then for those thing discovered for external commercialization they will simply hook up directly with the Fluid marketplace.  Finally, they thought if this works for us we need to share it with our customers as well so they don’t go through the same wasteful remaking of the same innovations simply due to lack of insight.  Classic right hand/left hand metaphor.

So Tom did the endless hours of corn gazing fry your mind into popcorn?  Nope.  Where’s the innovation in all of that? I was just reenergized to see a very large corporation be willing to get on board with a relatively new idea, see the long term potential, but not rush past the obvious innovation right under their noses.  I’ll bet they become one of Open Innovation’s next generation case studies for doing it well, if not, doing it “right”.  I’ll share more as we journey down the Open road together.

Tom

Study I must I love to run across new angles on innovation. I spent time this morning looking at the site trendwatching (ok, at work…) and I was both enthused and entertained by the “Top 41 Business Ideas”.  Some worth forgetting (IMO) and others quite unique.  Personal favorites:  Canadian Blanks and Edible. 

For me, I am a bit less ambitious (arguable lazy - gasp) about the pursuit of Innovation.  Don’t get me wrong - huge fan - work at a firm with the word Innovation in its name.  That said, I believe many folks are pushing too hard, too fast to re-Innovate the entire enterprise or an entire product line, or create a net new widget. 

In the process they are rushing past less risky, more obvious innovation opportunities that might offer as much return and dare I say as much fun.  More on this topic soon.  I would love to hear from you about the obvious innovation that are going unnoticed in your enterprise. 

Tom