Real World Examples of Open Innovation by Global Organizations

In these days of digital transformation, new startups are emerging every day. Collaborative working becomes the norm. So companies are welcoming external organizations’ involvement. These external involvements are open innovation examples.

Xerox PARC was a research center in the 1970s. It created the GUI (Graphical User Interface). It also created the Ethernet networking protocol based on the internet.

But Xerox let newly formed startup companies take these to the market. They did not commercialize them. 

In an Open Innovation paradigm, they could have worked with partners. They could help exploit these technologies. They could have funded, developed, and taken them to the market.

Open innovation is another path to the conventional innovation process. Here information does not have to stay within pre-set confines. It is about being open to sharing and receiving information.

In this blog, there are some open innovation examples.

We will find out real-world implementations of open innovation. Also, you will see the benefits that it has had for some of the largest global businesses.

Examples of Open Innovation

• 100% Open Innovation Toolkit

Open Innovation Navigator example © 100% Open

These people have done an excellent job in workshop templating. It is mainly suitable for reasonably early-stage innovation exploration. 

For example, you may be compiling a day-long workshop for an exec group. Maybe they have never given a thought to their innovation strategy.

100% open got your back covered in terms of conversation starters. The language is tender. The subject matters are relevant. The scope of the questions is on point.

These methods have few uses in the more established collaboration practices. Yet, they have served as a tremendous structural inspiration. They inspire terminology and scope checklist building.

Some of their thinking lines have provided reliable support in assisting sales.

When you compile a sales proposal, you have to have a type of client segmentation on your mind

These templates can provide you with categorization ranges. You can implicitly apply these in your work. These include “Explore — Extract—Exploit.”

This use-case’s terminology can be slightly too stingy. After all, it is meant to boost the conversations in the workshops. Yet it is easy to evolve.

• NASA

NASA uses open innovation to build a mathematical algorithm. The optimal content of medical kits can be determined by it.

NASA’s future crewed missions would use the kits. It also wanted to create innovative software that can solve this problem.

So, NASA collaborated with Harvard Business School, London Business School, and TopCoder. TopCoder members provided 2,833 code submissions. It is helping NASA build the intended algorithm.

The winners are offered $24,000 in cash prizes. They can also watch the remaining shuttle mission launches.

Adopting open innovation contributes to solving NASA’s problem. It happened through collaborating coders and software enthusiasts from around the world.

Top solutions were provided from the UK, Japan, Indonesia, and Brazil. 

Open innovation created a time-effective and cost-effective solution. Hence, this could not have been done using the internal team alone.

• Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is one of the pioneer companies in innovation. The Coca-Cola fountain dispenser was designed by Raymond Loewy in 1960.

Coca-Cola is adopting open innovation models on all levels. It is between the team and other entrepreneurs from one side. The company and its consumers are on the other side.

The Coca-Cola Accelerator program aims to help startups in eight cities worldwide. These are Sydney, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Singapore, and Istanbul. They also include San Francisco and Bangalore.

To build the Happiness Coca-Cola brand, those startups aim to think in innovative ways.

An open innovation model is the Freestyle dispenser machine.

It allows users worldwide to mix their flavors. It helps them to suggest a new flavor for Coca-Cola products.

The new product records the consumer flavor. This is done using the Coca-Cola mobile application.

It puts the consumers in the heart of the production process.

The company uses the suggested flavors as part of the external ideas. Thus, these can be evaluated and processed as a new product line.

• LEGO

In the early 1990s, LEGO faced hard times in dramatic drops in sales and subsequent revenues.

Strategic decisions and changes have driven the company to a more innovative route.

LEGO’s Shared Vision focused on the consumer by linking both business and creativity. LEGO started the LEGO Ideas. It helps them to get open innovation LEGO sets.

LEGO consumers can design their own LEGO sets.

This is done either using LEGO bricks or computer 3D applications on this online website. Other users discuss the idea. They then vote for it.

LEGO can consider it a new product once the idea gets the intended votes. The set’s creator receives a small part of the revenues.

This puts the consumer in the heart of the innovation process. Therefore, it helps the team target sets that can achieve success. This is based on the LEGO Ideas votes and comments.

Such a co-created platform can also reduce the risk of innovation. So, this feedback from the website can give business analysts an idea. It helps them analyze the new product’s viability.

• Samsung

Samsung adopts an open innovation. It builds its external innovation strengths through the Samsung Accelerator program.

The initiative aims to collaborate with designers, innovators, and thinkers. It aims to focus on different solutions.

The program provides product support, office spaces, and statical capital to entrepreneurs. It assists in building software and services.

Currently, the Samsung Accelerator program is available in various cities. Therefore, it includes New York, Palo Alto, and San Francisco.

OIC has four legs to it. It is the continuation of how you would partner with talented entrepreneurs.

The first is a partnership team. It is like commercial partnerships between a third party and us.

Similarly, the second is a venture group, that is, R&D investments in startups.

The third is an M & A team. There is an opportunity to acquire small teams and fit them into Samsung. It will help build products as part of the company.

Therefore, the fourth involves accelerators, which they have opened in Palo Alto and New York City.

• GE

GE is one of the top firms that have adopted different open innovation models. They hope to address world problems through the GE Open Innovation message. So, they do it by implementing crowdsourcing innovation.

Their Open Innovation Manifesto facilitates the collaboration between entrepreneurs and experts. It assists in sharing ideas and passionately solve problems.

The Ecomagination project that aims to address environmental challenges through innovative solutions.

GE has spent $17 billion on R&D. It has received total revenues of $232 billion over the last decade.

One of GE’s projects is the First Build. It is a co-create collaboration platform.

It connects designers, engineers, and thinkers. They share ideas with other members who can discuss it together.

Problem-solving is to focus on the ideas presented at First Build. They focused on creating new home appliances products. Winning ideas are made available to buy.

GE’s micro-factory places help in the manufacturing of the ideas

Members can access machines and tools. Additionally, these tools help to turn their ideas into real products.

A co-create collaborative model is used for the First Build. This is one of the open innovation models. It aims to provide a collaborative platform for both external and internal individuals.

This is in terms of ideas, sharing, and manufacturing. So, it helps to reach innovative ideas for products and services.

Conclusion

Firms want to be at the bleeding edge of innovation. They do that by partaking in corporate venturing. They invest in external projects and startups.

Open innovation involves collaborating with external parties. The potential for the birth of lucrative partnerships is there.

Organizations can detect emerging threats. They can integrate potential disruption tools. 

They can do this by scouting the environment while keeping one eye on the mother ship. In addition, this assists them in staying ahead of the competition.