Archive for Open Innovation
Amyris: A Partner in Open Innovation for Sustainable Consumer Products and Biofuels
In our ongoing work on analyzing the intellectual property landscape in biofuels, one interesting company we’ve encountered is Amyris, an integrated renewable products company. Amyris was founded in 2003 by Kinkead Reiling, Neil Renninger, and Jack D. Newman who met at Berkeley. The company is now located in Emeryville, California. With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, they first developed their technology under a non-profit initiative to provide a reliable and affordable source of artemisinin, an anti-malarial therapeutic. It was viewed as a long-shot, but they found success that led to growth into other areas. They are now developing new microbial strains that can produce other molecules from renewable feedstocks. This industrial synthetic biology platform is providing alternatives to a broad range of petroleum-sourced products. he extremely useful molecule farnesene is an important part of their business. It provides a compound that can be used to produce flavors, perfumes, detergents, cosmetics, biodiesel, and other products.
This week Amyris announced a record number of deals and partnerships for a single week (a record among bioenergy companies, according to Biofuels Digest). These partnerships include P&G, Total, Soliance, Cosan, M&G Finanziaria, and Shell:
Amyris has taken it up a notch with a series of stunners surrounding its synthetic farsenene, which it has named Biofene – the first product that Amyris is seeking to produce at commercial scale.
Beyond its success this week with Biofene announcements, which are the basis for the P&G, M&G and Soliance partnerships — there are the broader arrangements with Cosan to develop a platform in renewable chemicals, and the equity agreement with Total that will provide needed capital as well as a broader platform for Amyris’s expansion into hydrocarbon fuels.
The mysterious agreement with Shell, regarding diesel, is one to watch. The decidedly vague disclosure was buried in Amyris’ amended S-1A registration statement, but not otherwise mentioned in a flurry of press releases from the company as it promotes its expansion in this pre-IPO environment. Shell Western Trading & Supply is one of 17 Shell trading companies that buy and sell to customers within and outside of Shell.
This news shows an interesting example of companies forming partnerships with an innovative start-up with great technology and apparently highly valuable IP. According to my Patbase search, Amyris has 21 patent families, quite a large number for such a young company. They clearly have been active and aggressive in pursuing patent protection, and those patents are critical for the meaningful partnerships they are now forming. It’s a great unfolding story of open innovation and technology transfer.
The story extends beyond the US. They have operations in Brazil, for example, which is one of the world’s hotbeds for bioenergy, bioproducts, and collaborative innovation.
Lessons from a Grocer on the Unintended Consequences of Poor Metrics
One of the lessons of our recent book from John Wiley and Sons, Conquering Innovation Fatigue, is that the choice of metrics that business leaders use to track and drive innovation can actually contribute to innovation fatigue. Unfortunately, one’s choice of metrics can have unintended consequences that drive bad decisions and poor behavior. A recent example of how metrics can actually achieve the opposite of the intended results comes from a Wisconsin grocery chain, where a friend employed there explained the unintended consequences of management’s good intentions. Management is now pushing for higher levels of IPM, items per minute, as a metric for the performance of cashiers. This is a measure of how many items per minute the cashier processes. IPM looks like a valuable metric for productivity. Faster checkout means happier customers and shorter lines, so of course we want IPM to be high, right?
However, as with all metrics, the details of how IPM is calculated come into play and may bring unintended consequences. For IPM, the clock doesn’t tick when a lane is closed or, more specifically, when the cashier’s terminal is in “secure” mode. Shut down the terminal to the “terminal secure” state and the clock stops, something that some cashiers use to their advantage while checking out a customer.
A new manager at one store is pushing for IPM scores of at least 30 for all cashiers, but as one cashier explained, the only way that you can achieve that high of a score is to routinely go to “terminal secure.” If the cashier has to help with the bagging or do other tasks that reduce IPM, they can secure the terminal and then reactivate it before they continue scanning goods. That gives a higher IPM score, but the back and forth of securing and reactivating the terminals actually SLOWS DOWN the real work because it involves extra steps that eat up valuable time. By focusing on IPM as a proxy for productivity, productivity can actually decline. Lines can get longer, not shorter.
A further consequence of securing a terminal is that the customer may need to swipe his or her credit card a second time. The card readers in each checkout lane allow customers to swipe their credit card during the scanning of goods, but when the cashier switches to terminal secure mode, the swiped credit card information is discarded and the customer will have the annoyance of having to swipe a second time. By focusing on IPM as a proxy for customer satisfaction, the annoyances to the customer and the time to check out actually increase.
Unintended consequences of metrics can easily follow similar patterns when it comes to innovation, intellectual assets, and new product development. Leaders need to step back and observe the impact of their metrics on those in the ranks and on the actual performance of the company. A carefully selected basket of metrics with frequent reality checks are needed to avoid hindering real productivity and innovation with your good intentions.
Innovationedge can help your organization explore the impact of its metrics and find a better bundle to help you deliver on your business plan. Metrics are one of the factors we can help you explore as we work with you on your technology roadmap or your Ascent to Collaboration™ (your strategic plan to realize your open innovation potential). Give us a call today! We’re at 920-967-0470.
Taking innovation from marginal to mainstream
I am just leaving London, where I’ve been presenting at the 2010 Open For Business conference on open innovation. The event was invite-only, and hosted senior decision makers from Fortune 500 companies who are responsible for open innovation or open business models.
Yesterday our panel discussion focused on how to create an enriched organizational culture, so that companies can foster innovation outside of their traditional internal R&D departments.
We know the challenges of creating and honing that culture of open innovation, and we discussed how to forward-thinking business leaders can advance their technologies and develop new products or services with outside sources.
There were five of us from all over the world taking part in this panel titled, “Open Innovation – From Marginal to Mainstream.” My co-panelists included JP Rangaswami, Chief Scientist, BT Group, and Karim Lakhani, Assistant professor, Technology and Operations Management Unit, Harvard Business School.
The discussion was incredible and inspiring, and I enjoyed sharing my experiences in this space among other thought leaders on this dynamic panel!
Getting a Grip on Innovation: Lessons from the Bionic Glove
The Bionic Glove
The most recent issue of Consumer Goods Technology has a cover story that indirectly reveals some secrets of successful innovation. Alarice Padilla’s “Game-Changing Innovation: The maker of Louisville Slugger Revolutionizes the Sporting Good Market with Bionic Glove Technology” describes the rise of a new sports glove that gives athletes better control. The glove has a unique padding system that fills recesses in the fingers and palm for better contact with whatever the hand is holding. This results in a better, more relaxed grip.
What I’d like to emphasize is that this innovation was the result of successful open innovation that began with a random encounter. Bill Clark of Hillerich and Bradsby Company, the company behind the Louisville Slugger and Powerbuilt Golf, was visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum when he met James Kleinert, a famous orthopedic hand surgeon. They began talking, and this would later lead to collaboration and the successful introduction of the only sports glove on the market designed by an orthopedic surgeon.
The real secrets for success behind this story, in my opinion, involve efforts to build and maintain relationships. First, Bill Clark wasn’t sitting at his desk. He got out into an environment where he could meet outsiders that might share some interest in the kind of products his company made. Then he took the initiative to talk with others and learn from them. When he found someone interesting through a chance encounter, he obviously took the initiative to follow up and keep that relationship alive long enough to explore the possibility of learning from or working with the new contact. I wish more had been reported on these steps, but it’s clear that it began with a seemingly random encounter enhanced with follow-up and and a willingness to collaborate for innovation.
Maybe Hillerich and Bradsby Company just got very lucky, or maybe they actively encourage open innovation approaches that motivate innovation leaders to get out and meet people, follow up, and collaborate when it makes sense. I hope the latter is the case. Whether it is or not, all of us can learn from this success. Creating an open innovation culture in your company and in your life will greatly increase the chances of random meetings leading to non-random success in innovation.
Want to add the power of successful open innovation and enhanced relationship building to your company? Our experience, tools, and training methodology may be exactly what you need. Innovationedge is a leader in open innovation and in building a culture of innovation within companies. We also have some remarkable diagnostic tools for understanding where you are today and what gaps you have in your internal and external relationships. Give us a call today and let us help you get a more advanced grip on innovation.
The Social Component of Innovation
In this Pixetell video presentation, Jeff briefly discusses the social side of innovation and gives a plug for one of our favorite books, Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, a resource that can help corporations and individuals better “feed innovation.” Keith’s book, coupled with the insights we provide in Conquering Innovation Fatigue, can help you build the right relationships you need for innovation success.
When you understand that innovation requires social adoption, you’ll understand why we work so hard to help our clients understand the relationships involved in their ecosystem, whether its internal relationships between teams in a corporation, or the ecosystem of partners, customers, and others outside the corporation.
Prize4Life Illustrates Collaborative Innovation at Its Best in the Quest to Cure ALS
In Conquering Innovation Fatigue, we emphasize that many innovators are motivated by the desire to make a difference in the world rather than merely obtain personal profit. We also discuss the concept of innovation competitions as a great way to fuel innovation success and access new talent. We also emphasize the importance of collaboration across disciplines and organizational boundaries as the future of innovation success. All these concepts are nicely illustrated by an organization seeking to cure ALS, Lou Gherig’s disease. Prize4Life, Inc. (Prize4Life.org) makes an interesting case study of what can be achieved in the realm of altruistic innovation using collaborative models and innovation competitions.
Meghan Kallman, Marketing & Communications Manager of Prize4Life, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, kindly shared some information with me about their inspiring innovation efforts. Here is the information she provided:
I would like to share with you the case of Avichai Kremer, co-founder and CEO of Prize4Life, Inc. Then a student at Harvard Business School, Kremer discovered in 2004 that he had ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
A computer-science engineer and ex-captain in the Israeli army, he had planned to graduate, work as a manager in a hi-tech company, and raise a family. Those plans changed drastically when he was told he would have 2-5 years to live, and that the medical establishment could do nothing for him. Kremer’s business perspective sparked his interest in the economics of ALS therapies, and inspired him to use his Harvard training to work for a cure.
Little is known about what causes ALS and only a few companies develop ALS drugs, so Kremer and two of his Harvard colleagues queried scientists and industry executives about the gaps that have prevented researchers from finding a cure. Companies said that they needed some basic research tools to reduce the cost of the development, like a biomarker – a better way to track disease progression. So Kremer and his classmates began Prize4Life, Inc., a non-profit organization employing business theories to stimulate research, which announced in 2006 that they would give $1 million to anyone who could come up with such a biomarker. The ALS Biomarker Prize program recently awarded $100,000 in progress prizes, and the organization’s second prize, the Avi Kremer ALS Treatment Prize, hits its one-year anniversary in October 2009.
While prizes are the visible core of our results-oriented model, we are also conscious of the need to create a vibrant and supportive arena in which our participating teams can effectively compete. Prize4Life has thus created a series of innovative projects and partnerships, piggybacking on its groundbreaking prize model, to ensure that all competing teams equal opportunity to be successful.
As one example of such partnership: in June 2009, Prize4Life and the Alzheimer Research Forum announced the launch of a new ALS-focused internet portal known as the ALS Forum (http://www.researchALS.org). Initial reaction to the new web portal has been swift and positive. The site offers ALS researchers around the world a one-stop access point for cutting edge research news and unique web-based resources. We also have designed and developed a manual to help researchers design their animal trials, and are currently designing and developing a database of genes associated with ALS that we intend to make available to researchers.
About Prize4Life
Prize4Life was founded by a group of Harvard Business School students when one of them, Avi Kremer, was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 29. Prize4Life works to accelerate the discovery of a treatment and a cure for ALS by using powerful incentives to attract new people and ideas, and to leverage existing efforts and expertise in the ALS field. Among other program initiatives, the organization currently administers the ALS Biomarker Prize Challenge, the Avi Kremer ALS Treatment Prize, and the ALS Forum.THE NEXT ALS BREAKTHROUGH COULD BE YOURS
Meghan also shared with me an example of a successful outreach effort using the competition model. “We actually awarded $50,000 to a dermatologist who had never studied ALS before, and who was intrigued by the prize model, and who submitted a winning entry, which is a testament to the potential of the prize model itself.” For the complete press release with much additional information, see the press release, “Prize4Life Awards Prizes for ALS Biomarker Challenge to InnoCentive Solvers: Extends $1Million Challenge Seeking ALS Biomarker” (PDF).
Further examples of great collaboration can be seen in their press release, “Prize4Life and The Jackson Laboratory partner in fight against ALS
Non-profits join forces to provide researchers with new preclinical resources” (PDF). This describes a partnership with The Jackson Laboratory (JAX®), the world’s leading provider of mouse models, to provide preclinical resources for ALS research. Together, Prize4Life and JAX® have prepared a comprehensive training manual to enable researchers to more effectively use the SOD1 mouse model in the fight against ALS.
Their website is http://www.prize4life.org.
Want to Help?
If you would like to help, Meghan told me that there are many opportunities. “We always need donations and fundraisers (this is the link), but we also have folks who host events for us, who blog on our behalf (on their blogs or on ours), who reach out to scientists who may want to compete for our prizes, to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, to link to us on their sites, the list goes on! We have an exciting event coming up here in Boston, for those who are local–Boston’s pro lacrosse team will be featuring us at ‘Heroes Awareness Night’ at the Boston TD Garden on February 6, and donating a percentage of the proceeds to our efforts. If anyone is on the east coast and wants to attend, they should click here:http://bit.ly/512shV. Anyone interested can contact me directly, mkallman at prize4life dot org.
A great example of collaborative innovation in action, with bonus points for using innovation competitions and having altruistic goals. ALS is a terrible disease and needs more attention in the quest for cure.
The CoDev 2010 experience is just around the corner!
I want to take this opportunity to first thank everyone who has already registered for CoDev2010. I hope you’re all as excited as I am about the incredible agenda we’ve put together. What started as an informal gathering of a small group of pioneers has evolved into the longest running and most comprehensive source for open innovation learning. I’m confident this will be the best CoDev yet!
From the pre-conference workshops designed to give you a quick immersion in skills and tools, to the roster of thought-leading keynote speakers and the wide range of case presentations, this event has it all. The biggest challenge for most attendees will be deciding where they’ll spend their time, and who will they try to connect with during networking times.
Now I really want to spend a moment with an open message to anyone still sitting on the fence about CoDev2010. Success in business and life is usually about the decisions we make, and I want you to be fully informed before you decide to attend CoDev2010. If you decide not to attend, here are some of the some things you’re missing out on:
- Access to global leaders in open innovation for advice, education, and practical how-to’s on approaches, skills, organization structures, technology and more.
- Opportunities to get direct answers to your most challenging issues from some of the most experienced practitioners on the planet
- Great opportunities for networking, whether you’re a manufacturer or marketer looking for coaches to get you started, or consultants trying to reach your market.
- Opportunities for advancing your benchmarking efforts by connecting with peers who may be further down a similar path.
- A down-loadable executive summary as well as a complete reference binder of all the materials presented.
Are you convinced yet that this is an event you can’t afford to miss? What’s the ROI of something essential to the future vitality of your organization? If you’re still unsure whether CoDev2010 is a smart use of your time and money, here are a few more benefits attendees will receive:
- Learn about key strategies for implementing a corporate global open innovation initiative
- Discover how to recognize and foster the types of skills required to make your open innovation initiatives successful.
- Witness the steps taken at Whirlpool to transition from embedded innovation to open innovation.
- Find out how IBM enables a more rapid, aggressive innovation capability among its partners within its Global Innovation Outlook Program.
- See how others have reinvented their open innovation models in the face of changing business ecosystems and difficult-to-identify potential business partners
- Get an early look at Georgia Institute of Technology’s plans to foster an open innovation environment that invites ideas and experimentation while also engendering trust, lasting relationships and mutually rewarding results within its Future Media Initiative.
- Learn how you could structure a win/win collaborative partnership with universities, federal labs and research centers.
- Last, but this can’t be forgotten, learn how to measure the success of your open innovation efforts
I hope this has helped to whet your appetite for the kind of learning that can help power meaningful change through your organizations. The challenges to be adept at open innovation are many. But the rewards, especially in an economy that promises more dynamic change in the coming years, continue to beckon. I encourage you to make the commitment to be part of the force of change propelling your organization to the front of your industry.
The experience is right around the corner. See you all in Scottsdale!
Crisis management often leads to open innovation
Last week I was in Orlando for the Open Innovation Summit. I, along with several other speakers, talked about how innovation is often sparked by a burning platform. In other words, a crisis! The conference chair Michael Arndt wrote an article about it in his Businessweek blog titled Next Innovation Tools & Trends. I highly recommend reading not only this article, but others in his blog.
Companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Whirlpool and others have done some remarkable innovating via strategic alliances in economic downturns, and those case studies are fascinating.
If you missed this year’s inaugural Open Innovation Summit, I encourage you to attend next year! It’s a conference that delivers practical strategies on how to manage Open Innovation initiatives and get the absolute maximum return on your R&D investments.
CoDev 2010
I am excited to announce our exceptional line-up of keynote presenters at next year’s PDMA/MRT CoDev 2010 conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., which I am chairing on January 25-27. (That’s just a few months away!).
Our theme is Expand Open Innovation Capabilities to Accelerate Profits, Product Innovation and Market Responsiveness.
CoDev 2010 is considered the leading (and longest-running) forum on open innovation and co-development; sharing cutting-edge insights on current practices, lessons learned and future trends. By participating in this year’s unparalleled program, you will come away with tools, methods and processes to:
- Expand your open innovation processes across multiple business functions and levels
- Embed open innovation as a standard operating business process within your company
- Identify and cultivate key innovation partners to deliver a sustainable pipeline
- Evolve your company culture to drive higher value deals
- Build an extensive network of seasoned open innovation practitioners and leading thought leaders
Leading the conference are four impressive keynote speakers providing insights from the senior leaderships ranks:
- Todd Abraham, Senior Vice President, Nutrition & Research, Kraft Foods
- Peter Erickson, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Technology and Quality, General Mills
- Jon Hague, Vice President, Open Innovation, Unilever
- Carlos Linares, Culver Senior Vice President, Global R&D, Alberto Culver
There are many other presenters to meet, and many opportunities to learn from leaders in our pre-conference workshops. I’ll be teaming up with colleagues Jeff Lindsay and Mike Italiano to present a session on Managing R&D / Open Innovation like a Business with the Use of Scenario Planning and Financial Modeling.
PDMA is offering Early Bird savings of $300 through October 2nd, so click here to register and read about the case studies, panel discussions, workshops and much more from some of the world’s leading innovative enterprises.
I am looking forward to meeting you there.
Glowing reviews from CoDev ’09!
“My expectations are generally quite low for such conferences, but this one far exceeded them.”
That’s just one of the many comments I’m hearing today from our participants at CoDev ’09 (8th Annual Congress on Open Innovation and Co-Development) last month! The conference is sponsored by Management Roundtable (MRT) and the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA).
I was so honored to personally connect with so many attendees. Of course it’s always great to be in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the middle of winter.
I was especially excited to be back chairing this great event, which was titled, Building Open Innovation Capabilities for Higher Value Business Opportunities.
If you want to listen to any of the interviews I gave before and during the conference, click here:
Planning will soon be underway for ext year’s 2010 event, and if this year’s feedback is any indication, it’s a can’t-miss event:
“Many of the presenters are highly educated and accomplished and effectively share their knowledge.” (Bissell Homecare Inc.)
“Helps to open up your eyes on what is possible.” ( Pro Actuate)
“If you are new to Open Innovation, or if it is happening on an ad hoc basis in your organization, this conference helps you organize thoughts and provide structure to bank on power of Open Innovation.” (National Starch Food Innovation)
“If you have ‘innovation’ or ‘open innovation’ in your job title or in your job description you need to be at CoDev 2010. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert or a beginner, this conference is very relevant.” (Pure Insight)
Even though the economic forecasts continue to be dim for 2009, it was encouraging to see that leading companies consider open innovation and co-development efforts imperative at this time. Together top experts and advanced practitioners of Open Innovation, Henry Chesborough and I gave high level insight and practical applications for how companies can foster environments that allow open innovation to thrive and integrate multiple business models to achieve greater returns on their open innovation investments.
We had great dialoge with these experts, including open innovation practitioners from General Mills, Weyerhaeuser, Sara Lee and Kraft Foods, P&G, The Clorox Company, Honeywell International, HP Labs, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Burrill & Company Booz & Company, WD-40, Cadbury, R.J. Reynolds, JohnsonDiversey, Frito-Lay, UBS Investment Research, Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, and many more.
Hope to see you next year!