Hopefully you had an opportunity to attend the CoDev 2015 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona with us. If not, you missed one of the best CoDev conferences ever! This year, we saw how many companies are defining and implementing new business models to deliver growth through Open Innovation. There were a variety of models discussed and if we learned anything, it was that no one model fits all.
More companies are looking outside their boundaries for ideas, technologies and intellectual property, and they are working internally to integrate across functions to drive commercialization. It was very evident at the conference that the “what” of the solution is more important than “where” and “who” it comes from. Fostering collaboration with customers, suppliers, end users and employees is becoming a way of doing business at many companies that delivers growth and new revenue sources.
Numerous presenters spoke about the benefits of Open Innovation and Co-Development in their companies. Through OI they were able to extend their reach and capability for new ideas and technologies; conduct strategic experiments at lower levels of risk and resources; and overtime, they were able to evolve to a more innovative culture, from the outside–in.
Of course, there were challenges highlighted as well like gaining alignment top down and bottom up; finding the dollars and resources to fund OI activities; predicting the optimal level of openness; defining the “right” business model and deal structure; and defining what to measure.
Over the last several years, it has become evident that companies have been focused on open innovation culture, leadership, process and structure and they are now becoming more focused on talent and metrics. We like to call this the “who” and the type leader you need to drive success. We all learned a lot in this area from our peers at CoDev 2015. Reach out to us at Innovationedge if you would like to learn more.
If you’re involved in innovation, open innovation, co-development or partnership management, you owe it to yourself and your company to be part of the Open Innovation and CoDev community. Join the LinkedIn group and make plans now to attend the next CoDev Conference to network with your peers and extend your personal network.
Pat Clusman the Chief Operating Officer at Innovationedge and he was a member of the CoDev 2015 conference planning team. Check out CoDev2015: Launching Products and Business with Partners, Customers & Ecosystems, held February 9-11, 2015 in Scottsdale, AZ.