Open Innovation

Focused on working across industries, companies, departments, etc. – opposite of siloing. Crowdsourcing can fall under this goal as well, sourcing ideas from across industries, across companies, from the public, etc.

What the Ideation Platform Marketplace is Getting Wrong – the 7-Year Itch?

The ideation platform marketplace hasn’t really changed that much in the past 7 years or so. There was an early burst of innovative design and alignment with user needs, but at this point the sector seems to have stagnated in terms of how they add value. Call it reaching middle age, or perhaps they are having a 7-year itch?

Ideascale2022-01-24T16:40:13-08:00November 7th, 2018|Categories: Strategies|Tags: best practices ideation, challenge, idea management, idea management platform, idea platform, innovation, innovation management platform, innovation platform, platform, strategy|

Smarter Networking to Improve Your Company’s Visibility

External networking serves many purposes for a company, and modern digital marketing has become a combination of marketing, customer service, and public relations. Social media and other platforms also allow industry experts and organizations to engage in public conversation about important topics, so being involved and engaged in business and local communities is vital to a company’s success in order to appeal to modern socially conscious audiences.

Ideascale2021-12-15T13:59:35-08:00October 11th, 2018|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Collaboration, Communication, digital economy, leadership skills, networking, professional network, relationships, social networking, social proof, volunteer, volunteering|

How Technology Can Augment Human Collaboration

Innovation requires collaboration, but collaboration is stuck in a rut. Data science can help us climb out. It can increase the scale, the intentionality, and the nuance of how we collaborate. With the right data and algorithms, we can set our teams up to do something innovative.

Ideascale2021-12-15T07:29:15-08:00September 26th, 2018|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Enabling Factors, In-Depth Article|Tags: analytics, case study, Collaboration, Communication, data, data science, diversity, in-depth article, innovation psychology, networking, productivity|

Want to Drive Innovation? Talk to Your Customers

The customer is always right. The timeless aphorism holds truer now than it ever did before, as the customer truly drives the ever-changing trends and shapes the industry, with companies battling each other to stay relevant in the hearts and minds of their devoted audience.

Ideascale2021-12-14T15:59:36-08:00May 22nd, 2018|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Collaboration, customer engagement, data, Employee Engagement, employees, feedback, incentives, industry innovation, innovation, innovation community, insights, listening, Open Innovation, strategic innovation, trends|

How to Build an Enthusiastic Innovation Community

If you’re working with an innovation management platform, then you know the importance of building a community. The success of these programs is intrinsically linked to the spirit and engagement of your community: how much they participate, how they’re participating, why they’re participating.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T15:52:55-08:00April 23rd, 2018|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: career building, Crowdsourcing, culture, Employee Engagement, employee feedback, feedback, idea management, innovation community, Innovation Management, innovation team, network, Open Innovation, professional development, sentiment, surveys|

Are You Looking Everywhere for Your Ideas?

Lots of industries care about intellectual property and proprietary information, but perhaps none more so than the automotive industry where product development is seen as the competitive edge.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T15:38:21-08:00March 24th, 2018|Categories: Strategies|Tags: chunking, idea management, IdeaScale, Ideation, inspiration, intellectual property, IP, iteration, magneti marelli, Open Innovation, process, proprietary information, prototyping, response time, testing|

To Transform Your Business, Do This

When the Commission for Environmental Cooperation launched a challenge to the youth of North America, they received hundreds of unique, green business proposals. The young entrepreneurs competed for seed funding and came up with some truly disruptive ideas.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T15:31:28-08:00March 12th, 2018|Categories: Strategies|Tags: business development, business model, Business Model Innovation, cec, Collaboration, commission for environmental cooperation, culture, feedback, idea management, Ideation, metrics, new ideas, Open Innovation, Problem Solving, process improvement, product improvement, transformation, transparency, trends|

Why is Crowdsourced Innovation Perfect for Nonprofits?

When the United Way told the story of their crowdsourcing program, Edwin Goutier, Innovation Lead at Unitd Way, said that one of the things that he hears a lot is that people don’t think of the United Way (or nonprofits in general) as innovative.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T15:17:20-08:00February 26th, 2018|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Collaboration, Communication, Crowdsourcing, efficiency, incremental, innovation, innovation challenge, mission, network, networking, nonprofit, nonprofit innovation, nonprofits, purpose, Teamwork, united way, vision|

How to Connect Innovation to Institutional Learning

In November, the United States Coast Guard presented at Open Nation on their Coast Guard ideas program. They talked about how lessons learned from previous extreme weather occurrences (Sandy, etc.) still hadn’t become institutional knowledge by the 2017 hurricane season when they were so desperately needed. The reason that this hadn’t happened was that all of the methods for collecting new ideas were slow and opaque.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T13:57:47-08:00January 22nd, 2018|Categories: Strategies|Tags: coast guard, crisis management, crisis response, Crowdsourcing, disaster response, idea evaluation, idea management, ideas, IdeaScale, Ideation, innovation, learning, open nation, process improvement, united states coast guard|

Innovation and Cost Savings

Even if your organization doesn’t yet have an embedded innovation program, I can guarantee that your organization cares about finding opportunities for savings. That’s why programs like LEAN and Six Sigma continue to do so well. There are always new ways to improve efficiency and time saved almost always means money saved.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T13:48:29-08:00December 4th, 2017|Categories: Strategies|Tags: affordability, budget, cost savings, Crowdsourcing, efficiency, idea management, incremental, Innovation Strategy, lean, NYU, savings, simplification, six sigma, students|

Want to Build a Culture of Innovation? Then Seek Out Your Innovation Agents

‘No man is an island, entire of itself’ runs the saying and it should probably go on to say that no concept should be introduced in isolation either. In the VUCA world, we’re all challenged with constantly trying to do something new, to create lasting change, transformation and disruption. That challenge means it helps to have others on your side, adding their enthusiasm, energy, perspective and creativity to the mix. Why… because if there’s one truth about innovation, it’s that it’s definitely not a solo sport!

Ideascale2021-12-14T13:42:42-08:00November 20th, 2017|Categories: Leadership|Tags: change agent, Change Management, Communication, company culture, i-agent, in-depth article, Innovation agent, innovation champion, Innovation Culture, Innovation Leadership, innovation psychology, innovation skills, innovation team, innovative people, intrapreneurship, organisational culture, project management, talent, talent management, Teamwork|

What’s Keeping CInO’s Awake at Night: The Latest Corporate Innovation Trends From a Range Of Recent Conferences

Over the past couple of weeks, I have participated in several conferences / events, to better understand key trends in corporate innovation. Each event was excellent, but also very different in scope, audience and approach.

Ideascale2022-01-24T16:42:07-08:00November 17th, 2017|Categories: Trend Alert|Tags: back end of innovation, chief innovation officer, Competition, Creativity, data, disruption, disruptive innovation, Employee Engagement, idea execution, idea management, Ideation, innovation team, leadership, metrics, optimization, Problem Solving|

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.

Ideascale2020-03-30T11:40:36-07:00November 15th, 2017|Categories: Collaborative Innovation|Tags: bottom-up innovation, Crowdsourcing, expertise, Failure, Ideation, innovation success, lessons learned, Problem Solving|

Do Open-Concept Offices Promote Innovation?

Do open-concept offices live up to their hype when it comes to encouraging innovation and collaboration? Or do they hinder productivity by sacrificing privacy - and in some cases, comfort? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons.

Ideascale2021-12-14T13:28:39-08:00October 12th, 2017|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Collaboration, collaborative innovation, Communication, Employee Engagement, open office, open-concept office, privacy, productivity, workspace|

Mastering Global Innovation through Multicultural Collaboration

We live in an increasingly multicultural and networked world where innovation has the potential to transform lives from Austria to Zimbabwe. Leaders and teams are facing changing customer needs across cultures and geographies. If you’re responsible for international products, services, projects, or programs, how are you facilitating innovation and collaboration around the world?

Ideascale2021-12-14T13:19:59-08:00September 19th, 2017|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: business development, business model, Collaboration, Communication, company culture, culturally diverse views, customer engagement, diversity, Employee Engagement, execution, globalization, idea management, Ideation, Innovation Culture, Innovation Strategy, innovation team, multicultural, Open Innovation, strategic planning, validation|