Today’s University is a rich resource for companies seeking game-changing technological breakthroughs. In this in-depth article Melba Kurman looks at the benefits of open innovation partnerships between companies and American university researchers.
Frequently, brainstorms, idea campaigns and similar idea extravaganzas end with a vague notion of choosing the best idea. The problem here is that a truly creative idea, the kind of idea that has the potential to become a breakthrough innovation is seldom the best solution to the problem or the best path to achieving a goal - for the very simple reason that highly creative ideas are original. They cannot directly be compared to existing notions, warns Jeffrey Baumgartner.
Difficult market conditions force SMEs to adapt or reinvent their businesses through new technologies or unique value propositions, but they often lack resources and technical capabilities and must thus collaborate with others to compete. Those that succeed in this transition often employ open innovation. A study by Dr Wim Vanhaverbeke, in collaboration with Ine Vermeersch and Stijn De Zutter found that open innovation can create new opportunities for all types of SME – from start-ups in high-tech markets to players in traditional markets – because they can change business models without having the required technologies in-house.
Have you participated in a brainstorming session that felt like wasted time? For some reason no new and interesting ideas were formed? Perhaps you need to get rid of your old ideas first! Gis van Wulfen explains.
Congestion is a growing problem in towns, cities and on motorways the world over as the number of cars continues to increase. Two, currently separate but potentially converging developments, namely seriously smart driverless cars and shared ownership schemes, could reduce car ownership and congestion, while still ensuring – even extending –mobility and independence.
When conceptualizing a new idea, it is essential to direct the thinking to specific dimensions and search answers to certain questions to help evolve the idea from the initial thought through the various stages of innovation. This article suggests a framework for conceptualizing an idea and helps develop an understanding of the dimensions and questions that you need to consider.
In a slow or no-growth environment, we know successful innovation is absolutely essential for companies to establish and maintain a competitive advantage. While that may be yesterday’s news, achieving it is hard work. How can you achieve high value from your innovation initiatives? In this article Adi Alon discusses four key success factors that can help you get a higher return on innovation.
Getting fresh insights is a crucial step in the ideation process. Gijs Van Wulfen shares his suggestions on sourcing inspiration.
Has the virtual world become stifled by the comfort and ease of following successful platforms? Gunjan Bhardwaj offers his hopes and suggestions on how to update online business models.
Innovation is a powerful tool, not only to create competitive organizations, but also to improve the daily lives of people in developing countries and emerging markets. Innovations can in many cases make a critical difference and contribute to empower people and make the world a more equitable place to be.
Petra Kiwitt is Executive Vice President of DHL Solutions & Innovations at Deutsche Post DHL. The Group with nearly 500.000 employees in 220 countries provides package and mail services as well as comprehensive logistics solutions for customers all around the world. Petra Kiwitt’s biggest challenge is to stimulate and coordinate innovations which ultimately will lead to even more efficient logistic solutions for the customers. A new built Innovation Community brings people together, lets them share ideas and sometimes encourages them to do ‘old’ things in new ways.
Realising the limitations of their own knowledge, and internal R&D capabilities, an increasingly high number of companies are currently making the decision of partnering externally to develop new technologies. Companies’ interactions with their business partners or even competitors are becoming more and more frequent.
''Climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen. The evidence on the seriousness of the risks from inaction or delayed action is now overwhelming. We risk damage on a scale larger than the two world wars of the last century. The problem is global and the response must be a collaboration on a global scale.'' (Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, London School of Economics, at Royal Economic Society Manchester, November 2007, guardian.co.uk)
The paradigm of innovation as driven primarily by technology and science is passé. A new paradigm is emerging, with the publication of success stories of companies innovating through other ways. The Danish and Finnish governments jointly funded a study into the new nature of innovation, as a contribution to the OECD’s work on innovation strategy. Innovationmanagement.se asked the FORA team behind the report to present the highlights. FORA is a research and analysis division under the Danish Authority for Enterprise and Construction
The role of innovation in industry has changed. What used to be a closed and often secretive exclusive business of the R&D department is now being transformed to an open and collaborative eco system in many companies. InnovationManagement.se spoke to GBS Bindra, Global Innovation Director at Logica about the role of innovation.
