How Developed is your Capacity for Innovaiton

a constant flow of challenging ideas...

In evaluating your innovative ability you can consider the following questions:

• Do I have links with a wide range of outside sources of knowledge--universities, research centers, and specialized agencies?
• Do I practice "open innovation" by using rich and widespread networks of contacts from whom I get a constant flow of challenging ideas?
• Does my approach to supply management permit "strategic alliances"?
• Do I have contacts within the research and technology community?
• Do I recognize users as a source of new ideas and try to co-evolve new products and services with them?

ACTION POINT:  Once you and your innovators have been exposed to new ideas and concepts form other areas of your industry, or even other industries altogether, you can experiment to generate new concepts.

Networking for Innovation

Innovation has always been a multi player game

No person exists on their own, and no organization operates in isolation.  Innovation has always been a multi player game, and in a world of "open innovation," where not all the smart people work for you, organizations are increasingly turning to networks to help them manage innovation.

The benefit of innovation networks can be substantial.  For small firms, the limiting factor is often that they are separated from developments in the wider market--they lack the overview of market intelligence a larger firm can access.  Linking up in networks means they can tap into each others resources, ideas, and knowledge.  However, even larger firms are increasingly realizing how important a resource this can be, and adopting innovation network tactics accordingly.

ACTION POINT:  Innovation networks allow you to share resources and reduce potential risks of developing new products and processes.  They give you a diversity of perspectives, and access to knowledge sets and experience outside those in your organization.

Inviting Ideas On Line

...allow users to interact and provide their ideas to design and co-create products and services.

The Internet has made it possible for vast numbers of users to be contacted effortlessly, and for them to contribute ideas easily, widening your potential poof of ideas.  Crowd sourcing uses Web 2.0--the interactive, user driven components of the Internet--to allow users to interact and provide their ideas to design and co-create products and services.  Examples include Adidas, whose mi-Adidas platform lets you design your own shoes, and the Lego Factory website, where users can design their own Lego toys.

Increasingly, companies like BMW, Kellogg, and Unilever are creating virtual innovation agencies, opening their doors to ideas from users by using the Internet to capture and review these ideas.  Even simple arrangements like competitions and challenges can be a useful way of capturing user ideas focused on a particular challenge or target, especially if they are distributed over the Internet to encourage a large number of participants.

ACTION POINT: Use the power of the Internet to source ideas and involve your customers.

Asking the Best Users

Prototyping and test marketing let you observe users'  reactions to new ideas

Focus groups identify users and their interests as an input to innovation design, and later, as a sounding board.  Prototyping and test marketing let you observe users'  reactions to new ideas, and allow them to add their own.

Lead-user methods help you identify early adopters among your user base, to help shape your idea while you develop it.  Finally, communities of practice are small, often volunteer, groups of uses that use innovation solutions on a continuing basis, such as the Linux community, music software groups like Propellerhead, and Apple's i-platform devices group. 

ACTION POINT:  Get input and feedback from a variety of sources.

Involving Customers

they will have plenty of ideas about how they would like to improve or change what they are using. 

Everyone is creative--and that includes the end users of your innovation.  Users are not simply passive consumers of new products or services; they will have plenty of ideas about how they would like to improve or change what they are using. 

An important theme in managing innovation is learning to work with users as co-creators of innovation ideas for two good reasons.  First, their ideas can help make a better innovation, and second, if you involve them they will buy into the idea.  These users do not have to be limited to customers--the same applies to process innovation.  Changes to the way people work can tap into their ideas about how the process should improve.  Otherwise, they may find ways to resist the change.  There are two ways of encouraging these ideas--appealing to specific users who are likely to contribute, and encouraging contributions from the entire user base.

ACTION POINT: Seek the creativity of your customers and those doing the work to find ideas for innovation.