Open Innovation Blueprint: Commandment 1

This continues my on-going blog on mapping out a blueprint for implementing Open Innovation. The first entry in this series talked about the framework I am using to analyze this question, the Ten Commandments of Change Management. Open Innovation is a big change, and therefore requires a change management program. In today's blog, I'll cover the first element of the framework:

1. Analyze the organization and its need for a change
We often talk about R&D as if it is one atomic unit, but it’s not. Research differs from Development in that researchers constantly ask “what is possible?” while people in Development ask “what is needed...and how can I build it?” When what’s possible matches what’s needed, you have innovation. But most of the time you don’t get innovation, you get misalignment: Research produces ideas that aren’t used by Development and Development’s needs aren’t met by Research. The companies who are feeling the greatest pressure to innovate and grow have decided it’s time for a change. They’re opening up their R&D groups so that ideas can flow in and out, a new paradigm called Open Innovation. It’s about getting innovations to the right place at the right time so they can make their impact. More and more companies are adopting Open Innovation as they realize if they don’t capture innovations that other companies are making available...their competitors will.

Has your stock plunged by fifty percent or more? Do you see the rub between R and D in your organization? Are your competitors getting products to market in half the time you do? If you feel the urgent need for growth in your business then now is the time to look at Open Innovation.

I'll mention again, in the spirit of being open, all of these ideas are open for discussion, so please share your thoughts!