Tackling innovation | Paul4innovating Innovation Views

Lets change the old record and sound on innovation

The old record and sound of Innovation certainly needs changing.

Recently I have been reading about how innovation management needs to get back to basics or how it needs to be given a fresh lick of paint in professional certification, revised and updated university training programs or short courses.

For twenty years, since I have been working in the innovation space, we have constantly complained about so many different aspects of innovation failure and offered solutions to why innovation management still seemingly fails to deliver on its promise to build new growth inside our organisations. Offering innovation advice is a big industry to consult and teach in.

Innovation had a major new lease of life when the concept of “open innovation” promoted in particular by Henry Chesbrough, adjunct professor and faculty director of the Center for Open Innovation of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, and Maire Tecnimont Chair of Open Innovation at Luiss.

This concept took hold of where innovation had been constrained, in the R&D labs of organizations obsessed with secrecy and their siloed mentalities of hanging on to their “worth” of traditional corporate research labs (source Wikipedia)

The recognition that open innovation is not solely firm-centric changed how we looked at innovation management. The problem, for me, was that we did not adapt it or push its potential boundaries as hard as we could with all the technological advancements.

We kept innovation management locked into a 20th-century paradigm and I believe we must break the “chains” and make a significant shift in our innovation thinking, into innovation and business ecosystems

So briefly the value of this shift to Ecosystem thinking and design

I would like to summarize the salient points of Innovation Ecosystems and their value over existing or presently accepted approaches to Innovation.

Innovation Ecosystems represent a transformative approach to innovation that offers significant advantages over traditional methods. Here’s a summary of the key points and their value:

Core Concepts of Innovation Ecosystems

° Innovation Ecosystems are dynamic, interconnected communities of diverse stakeholders collaborating to accelerate innovation. They are built on four fundamental and dynamic threads:

° Greater Value Creation: Ecosystems generate multifaceted value, impacting not just finances but also society and the environment

° Extending Knowledge Transfer: The free flow of information and ideas across various entities nurtures creativity and progress

° More Co-creation potential: Diverse actors collaborate to weave innovative solutions, fostering a culture of collective genius

° Improve Competitive Positioning: Participants must strategically adapt and form partnerships to thrive in this dynamic environment.

So what gives these advantages Over Traditional Approaches

Innovation Ecosystems offer several benefits compared to conventional innovation models:

+ Broader Resource Access: Participants gain access to a wider range of expertise, technologies, and customer insights

+Enhanced Collaboration: The ecosystem fosters increased opportunities for co-creation and cross-pollination of ideas

+ Improved Scalability and Speed: Leveraging collective resources allows for faster scaling and market entry

+ Greater Flexibility: Multiple perspectives enable quicker adaptation to market changes and customer needs

+ Sustainability Focus: Ecosystems are better positioned to design more sustainable and socially responsible solutions

The need is to take and advance Key Strategies for Implementation

To effectively leverage Innovation Ecosystems, organizations should:

–Extend Collaborative Ideation: Look beyond existing boundaries for external perspectives and insights

-Launch Open Innovation Challenges: Invite external contributors to solve specific business problems

–Form Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with diverse entities like startups, research institutions, and industry experts

-Integrate External Technologies: Actively scout and incorporate cutting-edge innovations from outside the organization

-Facilitate Cross-Industry Collaboration: Explore innovative solutions through partnerships across different sectors

-Engage in Co-Creation: Involve customers and end-users directly in the development process

Establishing the Value Proposition of shifting towards an Innovation Ecosystem

The shift towards Innovation Ecosystems offers:

*Expanded Innovation Horizons: Access to a broader range of ideas and potential for breakthrough innovations

*Accelerated Time-to-Market: Faster development and commercialization of new products and services

*Enhanced Competitiveness: Staying ahead in the market by tapping into collective intelligence and industry trends

*Increased Adaptability: Better equipped to navigate uncertainties in a rapidly changing business environment

*Synergistic Collaborations: Integration of efforts leads to outcomes greater than the sum of individual contributions

By embracing Innovation Ecosystems, organizations can foster a more open, collaborative approach to innovation that is better suited to address the complexities and challenges of the modern business landscape

Can we move beyond the appeal of going back to basics, focusing on single-entity innovation building and expanding our thinking into the connected world we live in today? We live in the age of connected ecosystems, lets recognize this and embrace innovative ecosystem designs and thinking.

The four golden threads that weave through ecosystem design

I closed out my posts in 2023 reflecting on the “golden” threads that need to weave through innovation business ecosystems. So equally I share these four threads here again as they are so important to Business Ecosystem thinking and design going forward.

I raised the ecosystem thinking and design story ““At the heart of this story lies the understanding that innovation is NEVER a solitary endeavor; it thrives really well within ecosystems.

Just imagine these ecosystems as intricate and interconnected sets of networks, bustling with activity, with thinkers and doers, where individuals, organizations, and institutions converged with a shared goal – to innovate and create value“

The value of business ecosystems needs to be highly dynamic. Four threads need to weave through innovation ecosystem designs“

Did I achieve this weaving throughout the year?

Approaching innovation through the lens of innovation ecosystems

Approaching innovation through the lens of innovation ecosystems

Approaching innovation through the lens of innovation ecosystems is a strategic and holistic way of fostering creativity, collaboration, and value creation within a complex network of interdependent players.

This perspective shifts the focus from isolated efforts to a more interconnected and dynamic approach where multiple stakeholders—such as businesses, governments, academic institutions, entrepreneurs, and consumers—work together to drive innovation.

I have spent a far amount in different posts on the importance of Innovation Ecosystems and this post is simply a prompter of its value points

Pitch me on why Innovation Ecosystems are better than my present open innovation approach

Pitching the reasons to change to Innovation Ecosystems in thinking and design

So after working through the values of the Innovation Ecosystem over a series of three posts I asked Chat GPT to help me in making a pitch for the change from existing internal orientated innovation processes and structures.

I wanted to go way beyond just “open innovation” here, I wanted to provide a compelling set of reasons to make this move or accelerate this into reality.

Does this resonate with you? Are you moving along this journey of change seeing the reasons and lasting potential?

Unlocking the Full Potential of Innovation: Why an Innovation Ecosystem Outperforms Traditional Internal Innovation Structures and Systems

Innovation Ecosystems need you to engage and openly embrace?

Why engage in changing to Innovation Ecosystems

Following on from my last two posts related to recognizing the importance of Innovation Ecosystems we need to ask what makes these dynamic, interconnected and engaging, from a diverse groups perspective?

An innovation ecosystem becomes impactful and particularly effective in driving growth and value creation because it aims to leverage the collective strengths of its diverse participants to drive continuous innovation economic growth and societal progress- today’s dual need.

By fostering collaborations, by pushing to accelerate innovation cycles providing resilience, scalable options that address complex challenges, you can create sustainable benefits for all stakeholders involved. This becomes that interconnected and dynamic environment that offers a more widespread, equitable and long-lasting potential

Lets break down this view of Innovation Ecosystems even further

Recognizing the distinguishing points of Innovation Ecosystems

What distinguishes an Innovation Ecosystem from Open Innovation?

Within a short series about Innovation Ecosystems this post asks what really are the distinct differences within innovation ecosystem thinking and design, to provide a set of common distinguishing points to move from “just” open innovation.

What distinguishes an innovation ecosystem and makes it a must-have, is its ability to create a highly interconnected, dynamic, and supportive environment where innovation can flourish.

Is it access to knowledge, markets, opinions or is it spreading risk and resource sharing or enabling the flows in knowledge, ideas, capital- what else really distinguishes it and makes it a must to have. What sets an innovation ecosystem apart?

What truly distinguishes an innovation ecosystem and makes it essential are several interrelated factors that together create a unique environment where innovation can thrive.

Let’s be clear about Innovation Ecosystems

Embracing Innovation Ecosystems for Evolution and Revolution

My definition of innovation ecosystems is that they are dynamic, interconnected networks of diverse actors and resources that come together to collaborate to drive innovation opportunity and create a more compelling value.

They are progressively replacing “just” innovation as this tends to be housed in one organization, to be developed and delivered on the resources and insights they have.

Innovation Ecosystems are richer due to this diversity, different knowledge and market intelligence that a broader group can bring into the creative thinking and market realization.

This interconnected community find ways to bring new ideas to market, built on their shared vision, having a collaborative and supportive environment to use, such as a shared platform, and able to reach out to a variety of resources that become accessible to all participants.

Recommending we change to the Composable Innovation Framework

Designing a Composable Innovation Framework

During May and June 2023, I worked through and concluded my thinking on why we needed to change our Innovation approach. A radical change from far to often a linear one, into a new, more up-to-date, and dynamic solution for managing innovation.

This solution recognises that innovation discovery all the way through to implementation is now so often non-linear and that is causing plenty of problems connecting all the understandings fully up in one manageable place

I have called this the Composable Innovation Framework– here is why and what went into this proposal that I feel should be adopted for managing innovation in the future.

As the investigation, validation, and viewpoints were built up over numerous posts I am summarising the series here

We need to shift our innovative thinking from static to dynamic.

Where does open collaboration figure at the top of the CEO’s thinking today?

Open up your CEO’s innovating thinking to make the jump

Innovation must rely increasingly on interconnected organizations organized around a central focal point of value and impact. An ecosystem design should be in thought and design so that organizations can act differently on strategies, business models, leadership, and customer engagement to build new value and worth.

If we fail to recognize that innovation is vital to our business, to sustain it, and to enable it to grow, we eventually die. Today, more than ever, it is becoming an evolving collective endeavour. Increasingly, we are faced with growing complexities and challenges to resolve.

We need to foster collaboration between individuals, organizations, and institutions, creating a symphony of ideas that resonate far beyond the boundaries of any single actor.

The value of applying the Three Horizons to Partner Ecosystem thinking.

Building Partner Ecosystems Progressively through Three Horizon Thinking

Thinking Partner Ecosystems in design and delivery. There is a need to resolve immediate, mid-term, and long-term issues to show progressive thinking on how to grow collaboratively. How to collaborate to deliver impact, and create value when building your thinking in products, services, or new business models on any Partner Ecosystem design and thinking. One methodology stands out for me: the three-horizon framework

Partner ecosystems are highly valuable for delivering on these ambitions. Partner Ecosystems enable you to go beyond addressing immediate and surface-level issues to tackle deeper, systemic challenges and position clients at the forefront of collaborative and co-creative approaches.

In my view, this requires a progressive mindset that considers growth, impact, and value across various time horizons. This mindset lends itself really well to applying the three-horizon methodology.