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Open Innovation

14 Oct

Accelerate Innovation? Change Your Velocity

by Dave Jones
in Collaboration Software, Enterprise Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Software, Open Innovation
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] When velocity is constant - acceleration equals zero [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="10"][vc_column_text]Acceleration is one of those terms that is often taken for granted in today’s business environment. As a gentle reminder, the definition of acceleration is a change in velocity over time. A major disconnect in corporate external innovation groups (that is, groups responsible for identifying innovations to solve their unmet needs that lie outside their corporate walls) is that they typically - and mistakenly - expect to accelerate innovation while maintaining constant internal organizational velocity in the form of resources, infrastructure, organizational support, budget, etc. Groups seeking to rapidly change their external innovation velocities can do so through honest self-assessment of their internal capabilities, and subsequent selection of the proper resources, information management tools and collaboration models to build the sustainable external innovation organization that works best for them.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="30"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] External innovation groups seldom receive adequate internal resourcing to effectively drive enough innovation initiatives...

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21 Apr

What Does a Healthy Innovation Portfolio Look Like?

by Stephanie Creech
in Enterprise Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Software, Open Innovation, Technology Scouting
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The concept of an innovation portfolio is still new to some organizations; however, it's been a topic of conversation among innovation professionals for years.  In 2014 Harvard Business Review (HBR) published the article, Managing Your Innovation Portfolio. They found on average high-performing organizations focus 70% of their innovation resources on core or incremental offerings, 20% on adjacent offerings, and 10% on transformational initiatives.  Even though the average was a 70:20:10 spread, they still reference other successful models depending on your industry and your level of ambition and allocations.  The biggest take-away from the HBR report and subsequent reports is that for an innovation program to be successful, the focus should be a mix of incremental (core), adjacent and transformational initiatives.  This mix will enable a program to deliver results both in the near term and long term.  In addition to finding the right balance, organizations need to have the right resources to deliver. ...

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25 Mar

Technology Scouting or Technology Landscaping: Tactics or Strategy?

by Dave Jones
in Innovation Software, Open Innovation, Technology Landscape, Technology Scouting
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A critical aspect of any innovation management program is thoroughly understanding your own technology portfolio and how it fits within the technology ecosystem of both known competitors and potential collaborators alike. Innovation doesn’t occur in a vacuum – groups need to continually rationalize their internal technologies versus external technologies in their business verticals. Regular internal technical SWOT analysis (identifying where companies are strong / weak technically, where the technical opportunities and threats exist both long-term and near-term) better enable companies to define and own their particular technical space; as well as recognize the potential to expand their technical space over time. Technology Scouting and Technology Landscaping are powerful tools in the innovation management toolkit to achieve better technology portfolio understanding; but while these terms are often used interchangeably, these are not equivalent activities and often require different skill sets for mastery. Here’s how we at Ezassi think about these innovation management tools.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space...

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27 Aug

Increase Organizational Resilience and Innovation Through Collaboration

by Dave Jones
in Collaboration Software, Innovation, Innovation Challenge, Innovation Software, Innovation Solutions, Open Innovation
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It's times of stress that really test the strength or weakness of an organization. During stressful times, leaders learn what the people in their organizations are made of – but also whether the systems, functions, and processes they have put in place are resilient to withstand the crises that inevitably come up. Industry shifts, market downturns, unexpected competitors: when stress comes, it shouldn't make an organization or process fall to pieces. Instead, stressful times should be when positive discourse, growth, and resiliency thrive.[1] "What do you do when you face a surprise?" David Woods, Faculty Emeritus of Integrated Systems Engineering at The Ohio State University, asked at the 2014 Velocity NY conference; referring to unexpected situations like when chunks of foam fell off the Space Shuttle Columbia's fuel tank in an unexpected way. "Do you gracefully extend performance, stretch your capabilities, and add adaptive capacity in order to continue to perform...

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23 Jul

A Portfolio Manager’s Journey into Knowledge Scouting

by Robert Blizek
in Innovation, Innovation Software, Intellectual Property, Open Innovation, Technology, Technology Challenge, Technology Scouting
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[vc_row content_width="grid"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dr. Robert Blizek, a former senior technologist with NAVAIR, shares the lessons learned that drove his decision to use Ezassi’s Knowledge Scouting application.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="30px"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_width="grid" content_aligment="center"][vc_column][qodef_elements_holder][qodef_elements_holder_item horizontal_aligment="left" vertical_alignment="middle" hover_animation="default"][vc_column_text] The Challenge [/vc_column_text][qodef_separator position="center" color="#6b6b6b" border_style="solid" width="70%" thickness="20px"][vc_empty_space height="30px"][vc_column_text] Growth of World Population and the History of Technology [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image="11326" img_size="full" alignment="center"][vc_empty_space height="10px"][vc_column_text] Figure 1.  Globalization and the Internet have dramatically accelerated technology development. [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="30px"][/qodef_elements_holder_item][/qodef_elements_holder][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are three challenges to address if one is to keep abreast of technology development for investments, optimal partnership selection, or roadmap planning.  First, critical technological advances can come from anywhere. A recent study by the government accounting office (GAO) noted that, only two decades ago, 70% of science and technology development for the DoD was developed exclusively within DoD- industry partnerships.   Today, that 70/30 split is reversed with the private sector eclipsing the DoD’s pace of breakthrough technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum engineering, and cyber security. The second...

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26 Jun

Technology Scouting Must Have — Auto-Populating User Profile

by Virginia Bush
in Collaboration Software, Innovation Software, Innovation Solutions, Open Innovation, Technology Scouting
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Welcome to our “Technology Scouting Must Haves” mini blog post series. For years, businesses have had to perform Technology Scouting the same old way, with a long drawn-out, and very manual, process. Year-over-year, we talk to hundreds of R&D and Innovation experts across multiple industries and we want to share with you what we hear, time-and-time again. During this mini blog post series we’ll introduce common pain points experts talk about often. We’ll identify the technology scouting must haves and the new solutions that exist today....

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Innovation Budget Planning Considerations
07 Nov

Innovation Budget Planning: 8 Things to Consider

by Stephanie Creech
in Innovation, Innovation Challenge, Open Innovation, Technology
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] As you start Innovation budget planning, here are eight things to consider:   When it comes to Innovation budget planning (and R&D), it is typically a laborious process that spans several months with business model canvases, business cases, proposals and pipeline discussions. I remember my inbox being flooded with documents, meeting requests and scientists pushing their research forward for my sponsorship. As Forbes magazine mentioned in an article last year “The presumption is that R&D spending is somehow connected to increased innovation, revenue growth and profits. However, leaders may be asking the wrong questions here. A focus on R&D spending might be a good way to gauge best practice within an industry, but it is not a measure of how innovative any company is. Having a great R&D process and achieving market success with the technologies we invent are two different things.” Nonetheless, budgets are the fact of corporate world and must be...

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