Reimagining Media & Entertainment through Collaborative Innovation
Established firms in the media & entertainment space struggle to prosper in the Digital Age. New business models, enlivened by technology, erode traditional sources of profit. What possibilities for reimagining the business exist? In this article, innovation architect Doug Collins suggests one avenue to pursue: consider the benefits that come from learning how to convene a community on the critical question by embracing the practice of collaborative innovation. Apply the practice to help people work to their potential.
Social Product Innovation Challenges: Sustaining Processes
A couple months ago I laid out the framework for the most common challenges companies face as they get started with their social product innovation initiatives. The most common challenges fall into five main buckets – strategy, people and culture, business processes, technology and sustainability. So let’s take a deeper look at typical sustainability challenges and some ideas for overcoming them.
A Blueprint for Effective Collaborative Innovation
Blueprints help people envision the future in a clear, practical way. What will the finished work look like? How will we create it? What possibilities does the new creation hold? In this article innovation architect Doug Collins introduces a blueprint for the practice of collaborative innovation. The blueprint helps people envision their organization as they transform it through the practice.
Part 2: The Market for Mass Customization Today
As NetNatives become consumers and buyers are "trained" by personalized offerings, the market is finally ripe for mass customization. In part two of this special series focusing on mass customization, Professors Frank Piller and Dominik Walcher take a closer look at what the current market has to offer and provide their conclusions after observing 500 leaders in the field from a customer perspective.
Observation Grounds Collaborative Innovation
The practice of collaborative innovation starts with observation: the discipline to see and grasp the nature of the work, the end user’s environment, or the world at large. In this article innovation architect Doug Collins explores how people who lead their organization’s collaborative innovation practice can reinforce community members’ observational skills.
Special Series of Articles on Mass Customization from Frank Piller
The idea that consumers can customize their own products on a massive scale is having a tremendous impact on customer experience and expectations as well as the way organizations approach R&D. Following an extensive study of mass customization in the domain of consumer goods, this upcoming series of articles provides an overview on mass customization, its strategic capabilities, and the success factors that drive its implementation in business.
Innovation Through Co-creation: Consumers Can be Creative
A new trend in business and product development is ‘co-creation’. By its very name it implies a collaboration between the company and some other entity. In this case it is the consumer who partners in the creation of value. The term ‘co-creation’ is not new, however, but is now receiving more attention - driven largely through the increasing use of the Internet and social media websites - as companies endeavour to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Characteristics of Winning Communities for Social Product Innovation
Internal and external communities can bring real value to your organization by providing ideas and feedback for the innovation pipeline. Amy Kenly takes a look at several leading practices companies should consider when managing or participating in these communities.
The Problem with Open Innovation Web Portals
Michael Fruhling doesn't like open innovation portals, in general. What's his problem with them?
Opening the Practice of Collaborative Innovation to the End User
Engaging end users in co-creation deepens the bonds between the organization and them. The activity can deliver economic value to all parties involved. In this article innovation architect Doug Collins highlights the critical questions that campaign teams will want to address when they pursue externally focused collaboration.
Measuring the Practice of Collaborative Innovation
Developing and supporting the practice of collaborative innovation takes time and money. What do we assess to weigh its value? In this article innovation architect Doug Collins proposes focusing on strategic alignment of the program, relative advantage of the ideas, and engagement of the community members.
Open Innovation and Public Policy in Europe
Industrial innovation processes are becoming more open. The large, vertically integrated R&D laboratory systems of the 20th century are giving way to more vertically disintegrated networks of innovation that connect numerous companies into ecosystems. Since innovation policy ultimately rests on the activities and initiatives of the private sector, it is vital that policy follows this evolution. Read more in the report from ESADE Business School in Barcelona and the Science|Business Innovation Board AISBL.
Product Innovation: Unifying People, Processes and Tools
Product innovation is not simply about generating new ideas. It is a complex process, and many organizations struggle with the design and implementation of an effective innovation strategy that yields measurable results over the long-term. Sustained growth and profitability can be achieved through the integration of three critical levels: People, processes and tools.
5 Ways Small Businesses can Innovate Like the Big Guys
In traditional thinking, being competitive in the global marketplace requires a significant investment in time and resources. But the reality is that any organization today can take advantage of open innovation to innovate faster and cheaper than ever before, positioning them as true competition in the industry. This article will explore the top five ways SMEs can leverage open innovation.
Recasting the Internal Communications Group’s Charter through Collaborative Innovation
Organizations fund internal communications groups to develop and disseminate the central narrative for the group. Changes wrought by the Digital Age have usurped this group’s role as the exclusive interpreter and messenger for intra-firm information, however. In this article, innovation architect Doug Collins advocates that internal communications reframe and refresh its charter by embracing the practice of collaborative innovation in order to facilitate engagement amongst staff.
Pulp Innovation Chapter XLV: What do you want from your Open Innovation Software?
Marlowe gathers the Accipiter executives to sit in on enthusiastic open innovation software demonstrations. Will the team arrive at the necessary conclusions about their innovation community?
Applying Collaborative Innovation to Design Thinking
“Innovate or die” becomes the order of the day. People in response seek ways to innovate. Of late, many have embraced the practice of collaborative innovation, with its application of social media to sourcing crowds and ideas, and design thinking, with its structured approach to vetting hypotheses about new business opportunities. Having arrived in the organization by different routes, they exist as potential complements. In this article innovation architect Doug Collins explores ways to combine the practices to their mutual benefit.
Best Practices and Common Pitfalls Associated with Suppliers Involvement in NPD
Involving suppliers in new product development provides organizations with a range of benefits, including shorter development time, better quality products, and lower cost of development. In this new in-depth article Dr Sanda Berar delves deeper into some of the best practices and the most common pitfalls associated with suppliers’ involvement in NPD.
Sourcing Crowds for Out of the Box Ideas
People who practice collaborative innovation at times seek out of the box ideas for a given challenge. In this article, innovation architect Doug Collins applies work from Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman by way of offering insights on selecting crowds that can achieve novelty.
How to Make Open Innovation More Open
Here are some common-sense suggestions to improve everyone's experience when implementing open innovation initiatives.
Engaging Collaborative Innovation’s Losers
Change benefits some more than others. The practice of collaborative innovation, which by design offers transformative change, is no different. In this article innovation architect Doug Collins advises campaign teams on engaging people who find themselves on the losing end of the practice. Ignoring their concerns jeopardizes the initiative.
Collaborative Innovation on the Retail Floor at Nordstrom’s
By combining physical and digital elements in our innovation experiments, we can often uncover significant opportunities that weren't apparent before. Dan Keldsen shares a fascinating example from a retail setting.
Moving from the Front to the Back End of Innovation: Idea Evaluation
People who practice collaborative innovation learn how to craft a series of engagements where participants can see the whole—the whole problem and the whole set of potential solutions—in order to reach a shared understanding of the way forward. In articulating the way forward, idea by idea, the group commits to a larger strategic intent. In this article, I describe a way in which practitioners can craft an engagement in which participants can reach a shared understanding of which ideas to pursue from the front to the back end of innovation.
How to Accelerate Open Innovation Initiatives with Disruptive Technology
Global companies focused on open innovation can accelerate corporate innovation strategies by partnering with a select set of early stage, disruptive technology providers. The result can accelerate open innovation initiatives to fulfill existing market needs or to access new market opportunities while leveraging intellectual resources from outside your organization.