Urban innovation labs, hubs, coworking spaces… Which one to choose to boost your innovation?

Innovation is the Holy Grail of business success that can supercharge any kind of organisations from corporates to start-ups and shift them towards growth. Nevertheless, many organisations on the creative edge are struggling how to make innovation happen due to the rise of new work processes, changing demographics and new technologies.

Don’t “Fiddle” with the Crowd – Ask it Better Questions Instead

As the examples of successful use of crowdsourcing to address complex technical, business and social issues grow in numbers, so do the instances of failed crowdsourcing campaigns. To make crowdsourcing a widely recognized idea-generating and problem-solving tool, it’s imperative to understand the reasons of why this tool can fail or underperform.

Sink or Swim: Nouveau Economical Survival Strategies

Special understanding is critically needed on how new cyclones of artificial intelligence-laced, blockchain technology-driven digital platforms with capabilities like LinkedIn and baby-Alibaba type models will dance on global trade. Alibaba just broke some records: USD 1 billion sales in 3 minutes, and the other day some 24 billion dollars in 24 hours. This is dancing with global trades and prosperity on world stage. What are these deployment programs and who is stopping such mobilization in other nations?

Organizational Revolutions through Idea Hacking

Businesses face the dilemma dividing resources between protecting the current value chain and developing new value propositions that in time replace the old ones. Not every organization has the luxury to have its own dedicated innovation unit and still then the ideas might not always be too innovative. Hackathons are an affordable and energizing way to generate innovative ideas that can revolutionize your organization.

Managing Fundraising Innovation: the Dangers of the ‘Echo-Chamber’

This case study explores the results of an innovation research process undertaken by Oxfam, which compared internal feedback vs. general public feedback to identical sets of ideas. In comparing responses between these two audiences, Oxfam discovered an immediate and obvious divide between their staff’s opinions about which fundraising ideas would perform the best, versus what the general public preferred - an important lesson about avoiding the bubble of the echo chamber.

Trends in Innovation Leaders: Greater Risk and Big Bets

The latest Innovation Leaders research shows that there is an increasing number of high-growth companies that are prepared to take greater risk and make big bets. Rather than focus just on incremental growth, they are being bolder and are seeking to develop more radical innovation opportunities. Despite requiring significant investment and offering no guarantee of success this approach has been transformational for some. Where and why is this happening and what has changed that has made this approach more common?

The Engineering Behind Modern Superstructures

Human talent, drive and innovation can achieve incredible feats - and what more tangible example than modern superstructures? Let’s take a look at some of the drivers behind building bigger and better buildings worldwide, from improved materials, to cross-sector collaboration and beyond.

6 Pitfalls to Avoid in Innovation Development

Before investing in your company’s innovation development, it’s important to develop a strategy for collecting and evaluating ideas. Having guidelines in place to thoroughly vet ideas, value diverse opinions, prioritize scalable and sustainable results, and other areas of innovation management can set you up for success over the long term.

Collaborative Innovation – Hamburger Style

Often I read articles or books about top-down vs. bottom-up innovation and why one approach would be better than the other. After spending more than five years in the collaborative innovation space, I would advise going hamburger style!

Organizing within Networks of Collaborators

Our existing organization needs to envisage a changing world full of disruption that calls for radical change. To meet different challenges, to be highly adaptive it needs to begin to organize around ecosystems to deliver on a vision that recognizes it has to be part of a greater collaborating network to thrive in this highly connected world.

A Quick Guide to External Collaboration

Working with external partners to bring better products and services to market faster and/or develop better intellectual property has never been more popular in the world of business than what we see today.

Three Types of Networkers and the Roadblocks for Corporate Networking

As you determine how to build a networking culture within your organization, it’s important to understand how networking actually works. One of the most knowledgeable people on organizational networking and—how this supports innovation—is Rob Cross, a professor in the management department of University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.

The Importance of Collaboration in the Digital Economy

What’s the future for the connected car, for digital financial services, or for smart and sustainable cities in the new industrial reality? How are innovations and technical developments in 5G, the Internet of Things and spectrum management impacting on future networks and future businesses? And if meaningful, affordable connectivity is the single best bet for accelerating socio-economic development and meeting the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), how can we ensure we reach the billions of unconnected most in need?

Metrics and Measurements for Open Innovation and Ecosystems

Given the difficulties in developing and working with metrics and measures for open innovation and ecosystems, I have pulled together some inspiration and insights from several articles.

Mad Scientists and Creativity Labs

Managing solitary and collaborative innovation: All innovation is based on creative ideas which are generated and developed by passionate people working alone and with others. Both solitary and collaborative work are important to the effective development of innovation in organizations. The key for leaders is to effectively promote both.