Innovation as a Four Letter Word

Spending the last three weeks in and out of airports, having the chance to speak to numerous companies, small, large and in between, I have found an alarming trend. The word ‘innovation’ has been used so much over the past few years as the ‘new initiative’ that some companies are beginning to look at innovation as some over-hyped buzzword that has no real ‘meat’ behind the sizzle. In some instances when I bring up the word I get sideways looks that are usually reserved for people who have just had a four-letter word hurled at them. Since Tech Bridge West is all about innovation and exporting IP to create revenue, you can understand how surprised I was at that reaction. Not the fact that the word innovation HAS been overused during the past few years, but that it has already created a backlash effect. Why would that be?

I’ll start with the assumption that the vast majority of R&D personnel have heard the term ‘innovation’ so many times that, in some cases they have become completely jaded by it. I get that. I’ve seen so many Tweets and Blogs and LinkedIn discussion threads on innovation and what it means that I even get nauseated when I try to get through them all. If I had a way to reach through cyberspace you better believe I’d reach through the line and wring their necks. I mean, innovation is such a road term that it can be used in just about any circumstance that has to do with creativity. To me, the term has so much more meaning when it is paired with ‘open’, as in Open Innovation.

Now, this blog, website (www.TechBridgeWest.com) and LinkedIn site has devoted much of its time to helping people understand the power of OI when it is used in a directed fashion, but I fear people still view it as the ‘same old innovation’. If I could figure out a way to shower, shave and dress before I wake up in the morning, now that would be innovation. If I am a food manufacturer and I come up with a way to extend the shelf life of the company’s flagship brand that would be innovation as well. OI takes those same ideas and substitutes the word ‘anyone’ instead of ‘I’. You see, Open Innovation suggests that you are not necessarily going to come up with the next sliced bread, but someone else might. OI is a portal, if you will, for you to find them. So, while innovation may be thought of as a verb, OI is a noun.

Now, doesn’t that make OI easier to understand? Or are you still going to fling four letter words at me?

Using Unused IP to Create Revenue

One of the truly unique ideas to come out of Open Innovation is the process by which a company can dig up all their unused IP and turn it into a revenue stream for them. How this is done is the focus of many blogs, LinkedIn discussions, Twitter posts and a host of other social media outlets.

There are three keys to getting the unused IP program up and running. The first is to create an internal repository for all unused IP. While this sounds easy it is typically quite involved. It takes 4-6 months to get a pilot program up and running in most organizations, simply because the ideas that populate the repository can come from anywhere and from anyone in the company, not just from patents and trade secrets. It is how you tap into that collective conscience that determines the quantity and quality of the ideas.

The second aspect of unused IP systems is creating an interface for the ‘outside world’ to view these ideas. This is probably the most difficult step in the process as it involves making a company transparent to the outside world and, as a result probably to competitors. A true OI driven company can see past this and even embrace this transparency as it opens up every possible means to use that IP to create value. This step requires a basic cultural change in the organization and can take years to accomplish.

Once the repository has been established and it has been made transparent the final step is vetting the solicitors and establishing the details of the collaboration. Partnerships, licensing agreements, joint ventures are just some of the possibilities for external collaboration. It is up to the company to decide how to put these agreements together, and will dictate how fast the program moves.

I invite all to comment on this part of the OI Program. It is the newest part of OI and represents the ‘gray area’ of innovation. Many have commented on the barriers to launch this initiative, but few have really good input on how to do it. My suggestion above is but one way to achieve that goal.

A Brand Spanking New OI Program - What are the first three things you must do?

There are many companies who are jumping on the OI bandwagon. Trouble is, they're jumping on the back of the train, looking backwards and letting others lead the way. What do they get for this follow-the-leader mentality? A simple program such as Campbell Soups where a website was launched asking people to submit their ideas and Campbell;s would 'get back to them if they wanted to pursue the idea'. Talk about a demotivator! What I want to know from all the smart OI people out there is; if you were tasked to start an OI Program in one of those companies, what would be the first thing you would do? Heck, why not list the top 3 things you would do to jump start the program.

Skies the limit. Budget is not an issue. The only issue is success. So, let's go! What are your top 3? We'll build on the best ones to take the program to the next step.

Cheers,

Kurt

The Open Innovation No One Discusses

Open Innovation has been the rage, the buzz, in industry for the past 3 years, ever since Dr. Henry Chesbrough coined the phrase back in 2006. Today, we see many companies who have their Open Innovation programs in place, and are happily reaping the benefits of 'early wins'. What seems surprising to me are two incongruities; first, 'early wins' have been established as the criteria for many of these companies to ensure their OI programs continue to be funded. By definition, however, OI is disruptive innovation, a program that changes the practices of an organization to take advantage of a new way the customer lives, works and learns. Second, these organizations are suffering from what I call the lack of Outovation. Where Innovation is a company reaching out to help find answers to their technical challenges (ie General Mills, Kraft, Cadbury Adams), Outovation is the practice of utilizing a company's unused IP to create value. Unused IP can be in the form of old patents that have never been used to create a product; trade secrets and even ideas trapped in the minds of those brilliant people in the bowels of the company. How does a company access that mountain of unused IP? What are your thoughts on the real definition of Open Innovation?