This week our topic is establishing cultures that foster open innovation and crowdsourcing – lots to cover in our hour together!
One of the biggest challenges I’ve had in preparing for this topic is clearly defining crowdsourcing and open innovation – and based on the various articles and blogs I’ve read, I’m not alone. Certainly there are times the lines between the two blur – both involve looking outside the company for ideas/solutions/approaches – but they are two distinct things. Aren’t they?
For the purposes of our discussion, I’ve chosen to view the two along the following lines (of course, your comments are always welcome!):
Open Innovation:
- Most often a strategic, long-lived endeavor
- Participants come from a select group, often universities, complimentary companies, and competitors
- Involves detailed agreements regarding how the participants will work together and ownership of/rights to the results of the collaboration
- The outcome is beneficial to all participants
Crowdsourcing:
- Tends to be a more tactical, task-oriented, and short-term effort
- Participants come from a broad audience, often user groups
- Involves relatively uncomplicated agreements regarding the collaboration
- The outcome primarily benefits the company rather than both the company and the participants
Assuming this as our foundation, we’ll be discussing the following questions:
Q1 – What examples have you seen of successful OI? Successful crowdsourcing?
Q2 – What was done culturally to support their success?
Q3 – What examples have you seen of failed OI? Failed crowdsourcing?
Q4 –What contributed to the failure from a cultural standpoint?
Q5 –What one piece of advice would you give a company interested in pursuing OI? Crowdsourcing?
Looking forward to our discussion on Thursday!
Gwen_Ishmael