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?

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2024 Under Innovation and Business Ecosystem Review

My review of 2024 from a posting perspective has been a really positive one.

Taking my two primary posting sites of paul4innovating.com and ecosystems4innovating.com I wrote just over 100 posts, which always comes as a surprise in what it entails in time invested.

The split between sites was fairly even as I continue to increase my focus on building the building case for Ecosystems, in thinking and design.

In this reflective post I took a look back on why I moved from an “absolute” focus on innovations into innovation and business ecosystems.

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Dynamic Ecosystems become the Core of our innovating activity.

Dynamics- The core of Business Ecosystems
Recognizing the value and potential to the Integrated Ecosystem Design

The concept of having an integrated business ecosystem is central to the future growth and value businesses can provide. Yet, these have to be seen as highly collaborative, where mutual co-creation through networks of partners join forces to overcome more complex and challenging problems we seem to be facing today.

The single organization is unlikely to bring the depth of knowledge, diversity and access in resource and market realization. We need to learn to work in collaborative Ecosystems.

Continue reading “Dynamic Ecosystems become the Core of our innovating activity.”

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

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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

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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

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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.

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Moving from Open Innovation to Innovation Ecosystems

Building Innovation Ecosystems can tackle unique challenges

How do we differentiate (traditional) approaches of Innovation to (evolving) Innovation Ecosystems?

Is your innovation process closed only to you? Or have you gone to being more open in innovation with outside selected partners? Well we do need to move beyond both of these and start thinking and designing with Innovation Ecosystems.

I would argue we need to adapt to thinking and designing in Innovation Ecosystems. True differentiation comes from solving unique challenges in ways others will find difficult and expensive to attempt to replicate as it is the combined value, experience, diversity and knowledge within a network of partners that can be unique.

For me, innovation ecosystems in their ability to provide added value are important to recognize.

In recent years we have been moving away from open innovation but not at the accelerated rate I would have expected, taking this into Innovation Ecosystem design and thinking.

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Buttons and Threads: A Modern Ecosystem Perspective

Buttons & Threads: Applying a Modern Ecosystem Perspective

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the “buttons and threads” concept perhaps is a powerful metaphor for understanding and designing interconnected business ecosystems.

This updated perspective integrates technological advancements and business practices to illustrate how organizations can thrive in a network-centric world.

I was first introduced to the “Buttons & Threads” concept while working within one alliance I had in consulting while living in Singapore back in 2003. This concept was envisaged, in my view, before its time and ability to deliver due to the constraints of not having technology sufficiently capable and developed to be scaled and connected up, to fully gain the value that this concept offered from an Ecosystem perspective.

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