Perspectives on Innovation

Last week, InnoCentive hosted a webinar with Chris Andrews, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc., called Improving The Management and Measurement of Innovation.  We had more than 300 attendees for this session, and, during the Q&A, many more questions than Chris could answer.  Chris has kindly provided responses to the questions that he didn’t have time to answer on the call. 

Q&A Session for Improving the Management and Measurement of Innovation, by Chris Andrews, Forrester Research

Some at my company have talked about “incremental innovation.” Sounds like an oxymoron to me … a euphemism for process improvement.  Am I being too cynical?

I think you have a good point, but the ability to create incremental innovation is actually an important part of business life.  Not all of us can hit home runs every day we go to work, so sometimes we have to be happy to hit singles and doubles – things that create innovation within our companies and for our clients that don’t necessarily re-invent our business.  We can see countless examples of innovations, particularly in the consumer product space, that have substantially improved upon old products without fundamentally changing their value.

I think your point highlights something important: there’s a pretty fine line between business-as-usual product improvements and real innovation, and it’s important not to confuse the two.

Who or which functional group should lead the innovation effort? Should there be leader(s) or is organic/dispersed the way to go? Is there a “best” model? ­­
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Dear Solvers,

We are excited about the latest update to our website: the new Challenge Center!

The Challenge Center is your one-stop for all open InnoCentive Challenges; we understand how important it is for you to easily navigate within this page, filter on Challenges that interest you and select the ones you want to work on. We believe the new Challenge Center has met all of those needs and more.

As soon as you launch the page you’ll see a listing of all the open Challenges. You can filter by Challenge type across the top of the listing by checking the boxes. There are additional filters on the left-hand side-bar by disciplines, pavilions, award amounts, submission types (individual or team submissions) and the ever important free-text search option. You can also sort the listed Challenges by posted date, deadline, challenge award and number of Solvers working on the Challenge.

Below is a snapshot of how the page looks:

For those who haven’t had a chance to visit the new Challenge Center, I highly recommend you check out the page – it’s quite cool, if I do say so myself. Plus you’ll find more Challenges to your taste more easily.

Friends:

The situation in the Gulf is serious and getting worse. When they start setting fire to oil slicks, it’s time for some fresh approaches.

Some of you may recall my blog post from 2009 entitled Time for Emergency Response System 2.0. I am not proud to say that we have watched more disasters pass us by and remain unprepared to react quickly, vital in these crisis situations.

If one amazing idea could slow the Oil Leak modestly or even stop it, slow the spread, or minimize effects, then every day wasted is measured in real environmental, human, and economic toll. So we have decided to lead by example here. Last night we posted our first Emergency Response 2.0 Challenge https://gw.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/overview/9383447. We are currently working through official channels to route the most exciting/original ideas to the correct authorities.

As importantly, it is time the systems are made permanent. Hurricanes, Earthquake, Tsunamis, and Oil Slicks don’t send much advanced warning, but the systems can be in place to tap brilliant minds and solutions providers on a moment’s notice. We need to formalize these systems now. Accordingly, InnoCentive will be making Emergency Response 2.0 challenges available in times of emergency as a public service. The hardwiring to the official emergency response agencies and officials will need to be formalized.

What can you do right now? Immediate concern is the Gulf Oil Spill.

If you have innovative thinking that could be helpful in this crisis, register and submit your ideas at https://gw.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/overview/9383447. Don’t wait.

Send the link to any potential solvers you know. Think of this as a telephone tree. Need to get the word out in these and future situations quickly. Email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, Word of Mouth, Media, etc. Even an old fashioned cell phone can be used to get your problem solving colleagues and friends involved. All good ways to get the word out.

We have had little luck getting through to BP, if you can help, let us know (US government cooperation looks very promising and forthcoming).

If you are an authorized official from any of the several agencies, NGOs, etc. engaged in this situation, let us know ASAP and we may be able to add you to the distribution list.

Thank you and know that with your help we may be able to act even more quickly in the future with Emergency Response 2.0 challenges. Crisis are by definition unexpected and chaotic. Sometimes one brilliant solution can chance prospects tremendously. Thank you for your assistance now and in the future.

Best regards,

Dwayne