24 May 10
There has been a lot of recent innobuzz about crowd-sourcing and looking outside for innovation. Both techniques have their place in idea generation, but what about the people who know your products the best? You know, your employees. Now, I am not saying you need to launch an innovation center like Bayer is to come up with the next big idea (albeit if you can, go for it), but rather think about ways you can grow or enhance your business from within.
The following are some companies who have successfully looked inside to innovate:
- Southwest Airlines: Southwest is using an idea management software tool to capture their employee’s ideas on improving and bettering
processes. This web-based ideation tool allows employees in different geographic locations and of different levels to share ideas and work together to problem solve. Bringing internal minds together has enabled Southwest to improve internal processes and create efficiencies.
- Intuit: Intuit gives their employees 10% of unstructured time during their workweek (Google does something similar). During this time, Intuit employees are allowed t
o collaborate with others in order to develop new ideas. Viable products such as viewmypaycheck.intuit.com are results of such unstructured time. Read the rest of this entry »
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Automotive & Transportation, Government, New Brand Experience, New Product or Service, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: Employees for Innovation, innovation, Intuit, Southwest, TSA | 
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Posted by Meredith Stowe
18 May 10
Discover how “open-innovation” can improve R&D productivity at NextLevel Pharma’s Open & Collaborative Innovation in Life Science R&D conference. This event, which will be held in Munich, Germany from May 25th-26th, will allow attendees to gain an understanding of how open-innovation has worked in practice for other like minded organizations. The global life sciences industry faces many challenges in trying to harness the power of open-innovation. While the idea of pooling risk, costs and resources, and increasing R&D productivity at the same time is extremely attractive, there are many difficulties applying this practice to an industry that holds intellectual property protections in such high esteem. The life sciences industry has been slow to embrace stimulating innovation through open-source channels. The hesitation and skepticism is further fueled by questions of how to share risks and potential returns and how to measure success with the mostly unproven open business models.
Find out what the do’s and don’ts are in opening-up R&D to outsiders and how to reduce risk. The event will include case studies of successful implementation from pharmaceutical companies, academic-led consortia, non-profits, and public-private partnerships. Meet others who work in the life science industry, including VPs, Directors of Discovery, R&D, Innovation, Chief Scientific Officers, Therapy Area Heads, Pre-clinical Research, Licensing, Business Development, Alliances and Collaborations, Knowledge Management, R&D Outsourcing as well as those in academia, government and non-profit research institutes.
Leave a Comment » | Healthcare, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: Life Sciences Industry, Open and Collaborative Innovation in Life Science R&D, open innovation, open sources, Research and Development Innovation | Permalink
Posted by Jenny Wang
10 May 10
The seventh annual iteration of the Boston Consulting Group and Businessweek’s Global Innovation Survey presents us with some interesting trends in innovation. As BCG so eloquently puts it, a new world order is taking hold. While no drastic disruptions have occurred this year, there are signs that the times are changing. The most noteworthy finding this year is that Rapidly Developing Economies (RDEs), led by China, India, and Brazil, are slowly gaining ground on the western world’s dominance in innovation. These countries have recognized innovation as the next arena to prove their capabilities and they are investing heavily in this effort. The RDE’s currently have an indispensable combination of fast GDP growth, prioritization of innovation, strong government support, and investment in talent-all of which help drive the group’s growing innovation success.
While the top ranked innovative global companies are mainly unchallenged, there are some hints of long term change. BYD, a Chinese manufacturer of automobiles and rechargeable batteries makes its debut on the list at number eight. The following companies round out the top twelve (check out our case studies on some of these key companies to learn from their innovation prowess):
- Apple (number one for the fifth year in a row!)
- Google
- Microsoft Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Automotive & Transportation, Industrial Products, Retail, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: 2010 Innovation Survey, apple, Boston Consulting Group, BusinessWeek, BYD, most innovative companies, new world order, Rapidly Developing Economies | Permalink
Posted by Jenny Wang
25 March 10
Looking for ideas outside your organization can be a way to drive innovation or even more, find a new idea to bring to market. LG continues to be a pioneer in open innovation and crowdourcing through their Design the Future Competition.
LG Mobile Phones, Autodesk and crowdSPRING are ringing in the decade of mobile with the recent announcement of their 3rd Annual Design the Future Competition. This $80,000 prize-fueled competition allows designers a chance to define the future of mobile communication. There will be over 40 award winners and to reward as many people as possible in the name of creativity, LG will give out an additional whopping 37 honorable mentions at $1,000 each.
“We’re very excited about this competition because it gives consumers and design enthusiasts all a chance to exercise their creative imaginations and have their ideas be heard…You don’t have to work for LG to make an impact on the future of mobile phones.”
-Ehtisham Rabbani, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation for LG Mobile Phones.
Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Art & Design, Futurism, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Meredith Stowe
1 December 09
A fellow futurethinker finally got an iPhone this past holiday weekend, bring the firm average back up to a respectable 75% adoption level. Given the latest post, Do We Really Need an App for That?, I thought I’d try to list out some apps I actually do need and use fairly often, as a starting point for the new iPhone in the office. This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive list, but merely a list of some apps I currently use that could be useful for others. Here goes:
- Remote: Great for controlling your iTunes without having to be at the computer — you just need to be connected to the same wireless network.
- Air Mouse: even better for controlling your entire computer without having to be there. Your iPhone is turned into a either a mouse or a trackpad.
- WorkSnug: For the mobile worker, the never-ending search for your ‘third place’, complete with WiFi and coffee, is over with this app that uses augmented reality. So far it only works in London, but they’re going to launch it in NYC and San Francisco soon, I hope.
- Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Technology | Tagged: apple, apps, iPhone, the web | Permalink
Posted by Andrew Der
26 August 09
Since last fall, the news has been dominated by tales of woe: companies going under, layoffs, downsizing, restructuring, billions of dollars lost. It’s no wonder that organizations today feel handcuffed to the point that innovation takes a back seat to simply staying afloat. But a few companies are bucking the trend and seem to be more focused on growth and innovation than ever before. One of these companies is Google.
In the last 3 months alone, Google has announced groundbreaking new projects such as Google Voice, the Chrome operating system, and Google Wave. These projects, which have been brewing for as many as five years now, are major growth opportunities for a company whose core search business is beginning to plateau. While some companies have chosen to stop work on major, untested new projects, Google has opted to charge forward and is planting a number of important seeds for its future. Will all of these new projects be runaway successes? Probably not. Will at least one of them take off? No one can be sure, but given Google’s track record, it’s very likely. We’ve all read the snippet about Google launching its search business during the dot-com bust in 2000. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Media & Entertainment, New Business Model, New Product or Service, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: google, innovating in difficult times, innovations to watch, media, Microsoft | Permalink
Posted by Andrew Der
30 July 09
Plastic Logic’s electronic reader may be the ‘Kindle Killer,’ but for many, this little innovation will be quite the savior.
The new eReader will provide users with access to Barnes & Noble’s abundant eBook store—this means more than 700,000 titles at their fingertips, while Amazon’s Kindle provides only 300,000 titles. But the thing that positions this new eReader toe-to-toe with the Kindle—and has eBookers stirring—is that it will provide wireless access through AT&T’s wide 3G network; giving users unlimited access to new books in many more locations, ultimately providing added mobility. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Media & Entertainment, New Product or Service, New Strategic Partnership, Technology | Tagged: amazon, barnes and noble, competition, ebook, ereader, innovation, kindle, kindle2, plastic logic | Permalink
Posted by Chaya Wilkins
20 April 09
More and more companies are tapping the ‘wisdom of crowds’ to develop new products. The latest company to capitalize on this trend is LG Electronics.
LG Mobile Phones is challenging consumers to design the next LG mobile phone. The company is partnering with crowdSPRING (an online marketplace for creative services) and Autodesk (a leader in 2D and 3D design and engineering software) to define the future of personal mobile communication. The competition starts today, April 20th, and runs until June 7, 2009.
Visit www.crowdspring.com/LG to learn more and submit your designs.
Leave a Comment » | Art & Design, Technology | Tagged: collaboration, crowdsourcing, electronics, LG Electronics, open innovation | Permalink
Posted by Andrew Der
4 March 09
Just a week after launching the Kindle2, Amazon has released an iPhone/iPod touch application that allows users to enjoy the Kindle collection of over 240,000 eBooks right from their device of choice.
The Kindle app is free, and is a really interesting launch from Amazon’s standpoint. While the eReading experience on an iPhone or iPod touch is nowhere what it is on the Kindle, many users may now avoid spending $359 on the Kindle2 device and still purchase and use eBooks through Amazon. But Fast Company is quick to point out a couple of reasons why the iPhone/iPod Touch is no replacement for the Kindle:
[T]he Kindle device itself probably won’t be threatened by the iPhone app. For two main reasons. The first is display technology: Though the e-ink screen used on the Kindle isn’t the most amazing out there, it’s certainly a rather closer experience to reading a book than viewing text on an iPhone. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Media & Entertainment, New Business Model, New Customer Segment, New Distribution Channel, Retail, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
9 February 09
Meet Amazon’s just-announced Kindle2. The device is an update to the Kindle, which launched in November of 2007. The Kindle2 is, at its heart, very much the same device as its predecessor. The most notable difference in the updated model is a sleeker new form factor, which incorporates improvements to many of the details users used to complain about. For example, there are now two sets of page turn buttons on either side of the screen, allowing users to hold the device in either hand. Other improvements include faster page turns, improved battery life, and a text-to-speech option which lets users hear their books read out loud (albeint in a roboticized voice). The device still retails for $359, and all open orders for the original Kindle will be fulfilled with the updated model instead. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Media & Entertainment, New Distribution Channel, New Product or Service, Retail, Technology | Tagged: amazon, amazon kindle, amazon kindle2, apple, business model innovation, innovation, ipod, itunes, kindle, kindle2 | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
