Evolving Innovation
Henry Chesbrough is generally credited with coining the term open innovation from his book Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Open innovation differed from the previous method of closed innovation where individual firms manage their own in-house R&D departments. Open innovation seeks to use the results of the market at large finding new purposes and more effective applications of current technologies creating both spin ons and spin offs.
Proctor and Gamble evolved their R&D into a new model they call Connect and Develop in the early 2000s. They were seeking ways to innovate their R&D department and discovered that given technological advances all over the globe, the challenges that the firm was looking to conquer may have been already resolved by other firms and what was really needed was a way to connect those proven solutions to current issues. P&G used this innovation model to create common everyday products like Swiffer Dusters, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, and Glad Pressn’Seal which continue to drive success for the firm.
Research Scientist at MIT’s Sloan Center for Cognitive Intelligence Peter Gloor, wrote the book Swarm Creativity: Competitive Advantage through Collaborative Innovation Networks in 2005. Gloor developed the term Collaborative Innovation Network, or CoIN, to refer to a team, often of geographically separated individuals, utilizing technology to collaborate and share knowledge and information with each other directly with a goal of uniting professionals from disparate backgrounds to find the best possible solution to challenges.
Collaborative innovation does pose some challenges to leadership. Which behaviors should a leader look to identify and develop for innovators? What can be done to prevent groupthink? How can leadership develop the most collaborative team? Join HCI July 30, 2013 at 12pm ET for the webcast, Collaborative Innovation: Move Your Team Outside the Box and to hear Sarah Miller Caldicott, Author of Midnight Lunch and Great-Grandniece of Thomas Edison, and Robyn Clark, Managing Director of Talent Solutions at BPI Group, answer these questions and share some best practices and insights from leading collaborative innovation organizations.