The goal of open innovation is to allow organizations to collaborate with external resources to advance their technologies. Through OI, companies can efficiently address product or system needs and increase responsiveness to marketplace demands. Successful utilization of OI includes four essential steps and the right tool to manage them.

 

Crowdsourcing

The first step is connecting with external resources to gather and evaluate ideas. You need a strong cyber scouting tool that challenges and engage your target collaborators as well as filters ideas to assure the best concepts are captured. This system should also provide intellectual property protection for both the organizations and the external collaborators.

 

Innovation Integration

Organizations must have a system to take select ideas and integrate them into their system. This step is critical to achieving the full benefit of OI, and is one that is the most likely stumbling block. While some companies embrace the concept of OI, they are hesitant to accept externally-developed ideas. Other organizations’ cultures embrace OI to the fullest but lack the ability to integrate these outside-sourced concepts into their R&D structure. An automated assessment and analytics tool supports innovation integration, making the process seamless to your existing system.

 

Commercialization

Every open innovation system must manage the product lifecycle from intake of concept through product on the shelf. To be effective, the commercialization step should include all aspects of bringing a product to market, including pricing, package design, and shelf displays.

 

Collaborator Interaction

Innovation requires communication that goes beyond the initial concept submission. An effective OI process must include feedback loops and interactions between creation partners, external innovation networks, and even end users. This step should be an integral part of the entire product lifecycle and included as needed at every level of development.

 

Successful open innovation depends on an organization’s ability to manage these essential steps. Ezassi’s OI Management Solution with IP Protection includes all of the capture, integration and communication tools you need to support product lifecycle management of all internal and external collaborations. Request a demo to experience the power of Ezassi.