How can you create an innovation ecosystem that supports both internal and external innovation?

Obvious one, but garner innovation. Don’t use the word cause its cute. Enforce it. At my startup Granimals, each team member has access to an idea board. That idea board is tracked to see contributions made by members across the firm. The goal is not to police people but help build the idea muscle. If the team on the ground doesn’t have opinions on how to improve processes both internally and externally youre in deep trouble. The only way to promote innovation is to: - enforce it - welcome it - applaud it - execute on it Once your team sees one full cycle as mentioned above, the innovation in the organization will be on steroids

Creating a successful innovation ecosystem involves advocating for supportive policies, ensuring market access for new ideas, focusing on effective commercialization strategies, and attracting investments.

Creating a robust innovation ecosystem requires a multi-faceted approach. Cultivate a culture that values and encourages innovation at every level of the organization, breaking down silos to promote cross-functional collaboration. Establish dedicated innovation teams and provide platforms for open communication to gather ideas from all employees. Incentivize and recognize innovative contributions to foster a culture of creativity. Form strategic partnerships with external organizations, startups, or research institutions to inject fresh perspectives. Develop innovation incubators or labs, and support intrapreneurship to encourage employees to explore and implement their own projects.

It’s essential when creating an ecosystem that supports both internal and external innovation that a leader focuses on fostering a culture of equity and inclusion. As a leader, you can support this by prioritizing the needs of your teams over your own, ensuring that the ecosystem is driven by their needs and not by your wants and desires. Additionally, it's important to be humble and humanistic in your approach, valuing diverse perspectives and by creating an environment where everyone feels included and empowered to contribute. Remember, an organizational ecosystem contains people and their needs should be prioritized in order for the ecosystem to be psychologically healthy.

Embarking on an innovation journey requires a meticulous roadmap, and this insightful article rightly emphasizes the pivotal first steps. Defining innovation goals and strategy is akin to setting the compass for a transformative expedition. It prompts us to articulate the problems we aspire to solve, the opportunities we seek to embrace, and the lasting impact we aim to instigate. Equally crucial is the discernment of innovation types—whether incremental, radical, or disruptive—each bearing distinct merits. The article adeptly underscores the necessity to align innovation strategy seamlessly with overarching business goals and vision, fostering a harmonious synergy that propels organizations toward meaningful evolution.

Not only hire external people, but make a good mix between internal and external people for your unit. Internal people know the formal and informal ways of big organizations on how to leverage the power of startups whereas people from outside bring a new perspective and an external network.

1. Stakeholder Mapping: Identify internal and external stakeholders involved in innovation. 2. Communication Channels: Establish effective communication for ongoing engagement. 3. Collaborative Workshops: Conduct sessions to gather insights and foster collaboration. 4. Feedback Mechanism: Implement structured feedback for continuous involvement. 5. Incentivize Participation: Recognize and incentivize active stakeholder contributions. 6. Adaptive Engagement: Tailor strategies to meet diverse stakeholder needs. 7. Regular Updates: Provide consistent progress updates to keep stakeholders informed. 8. Clear Value Proposition: Communicate the value of stakeholder contributions and align innovation with organizational goals.

Stakeholders in an innovation ecosystem include employees, customers, partners, investors, and the broader community. Identifying these groups and understanding their needs, expectations, and contributions is crucial. Engaging them involves creating channels for communication, collaboration, and feedback. This helps in gaining diverse perspectives and ideas, which are vital for a thriving innovation environment.

When identifying your stakeholders be careful not to allow bias thinking and preference take hold. We all have preferential people, our "go to" groups however, when really wanting to strive for new innovation it is a time to look at new influences, people whom you may not have had a natural preference to work with previously. It can often help to collab with those who have opposing visions to yourself to create the best ideas and solutions.

In cultivating a robust innovation ecosystem, the pivotal second step revolves around the identification and active engagement of innovation stakeholders. These diverse entities encompass a spectrum ranging from internal teams and external partners to competitors, regulators, and the broader community. To truly harness their potential, one must intricately map out these stakeholders, delving into their unique needs, expectations, motivations, and challenges. Consistent communication becomes the linchpin, fostering an environment where feedback is sought, collaboration is encouraged, and trust is meticulously built.

To truly harness an innovation ecosystem, balancing internal creativity with external collaboration is paramount. This involves recognizing the untapped potential within your team and fostering an environment where their ideas can flourish. Externally, forming strategic partnerships with startups and academia can inject fresh perspectives and specialized knowledge, vital for groundbreaking innovations. Critical resource assessment, identifying gaps and strengths, is crucial. It’s about creating a synergy where internal capabilities are amplified by external expertise, driving innovation that is both sustainable and impactful.

Creating an innovation ecosystem requires a strategic blend of leveraging internal and external resources. Internally, tapping into the diverse skills and ideas of employees is essential. This includes fostering a culture that encourages creative thinking and collaborative problem-solving. Externally, forming alliances with startups, academic institutions, and other organizations can bring fresh perspectives and expertise. It's crucial to assess these resources critically, identifying strengths and gaps to optimize their use. Balancing resource allocation and integration ensures that the innovation process is sustained and scalable.

Efficiently leveraging both internal and external resources is pivotal for organizational success. Internally, tap into the skills and expertise of your workforce by fostering a culture that values collaboration and innovation. Establish cross-functional teams and provide opportunities for professional development. Externally, build strategic partnerships, collaborate with industry experts, and explore alliances with startups or research institutions. Utilize external resources to access specialized knowledge, technologies, and diverse perspectives that can complement and enhance your internal capabilities. By seamlessly integrating the strengths of both internal and external resources, organizations can achieve greater agility.

Foster an innovation ecosystem by cultivating a culture that values creativity, encourages collaboration, and embraces risk-taking. Internally, provide resources, training, and incentives for employees to explore new ideas. Externally, collaborate with startups, industry partners, and academia. Create platforms for idea exchange, such as hackathons or innovation contests. Establish a supportive leadership framework that champions experimentation. Regularly review and adapt policies to accommodate evolving innovations. A balanced approach ensures a dynamic ecosystem where internal and external contributors thrive.

There are internal people that talk to startups every day but then do not know what to do with it, build up a reputation with a strong visible brand so people know that you take care of the startups enquiry and do not waste the companies nor the startups time.

You will not create an ecosystem by implementing your innovation processes and practices, and aligning them with your business goals. You need to put aside the corporate mindset of purely creating shareholder value, and think about what can propel the industry, or the ecosystem, or the region forward. Your strategies should be aligned with that goal, but the ecosystem is more than your strategies.

Implementing innovation processes and practices involves translating ideas into actionable steps. Begin by clearly defining innovation goals and establishing a structured framework for idea generation, evaluation, and implementation. Cultivate a culture that supports experimentation and risk-taking, ensuring that employees feel empowered to contribute their creative insights. Integrate innovation into existing workflows, aligning it with strategic objectives. Implement feedback mechanisms to continuously refine and improve the innovation process. Foster cross-functional collaboration and provide the necessary resources and training to support innovative initiatives. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your innovation process.

At this stage, it’s also important for the team to have freedom to take risks. You can lessen the risk by grounding the creativity in research and participatory design, but the quality and output of innovation activities will correlate with the organizational tolerance of risk.

Have repeatable processes and frameworks vor ideate, validate and scale the right ideas. The process needs to be repeatable, make use of AI tools to support especially in the incubate phase.

Get a good test and learn strategy in place. Make sure the team and senior stakeholders are ok with failure. Get really good at defining and measuring assumptions and killing, expanding or investing in ideas based on how they are proven to be valuable.

In the organisation where I head up the organisation-wide innovation program (22K people), it is very important not just to talk about innovation and create beautiful PowerPoint of methodes and guidelines, but to put it into practise by showing people how-to). We do this by providing a year-round program with multiple editions of design thinking courses, tracks where you can experience and learn the tools, language, working in a different way/pace, while solving a customer problem. We also offer innovation expertise training programs to increase the number of people internally who are able to for example facilitate innovation or build prototypes. By doing this, change the innovation maturity level of our workforce. Slowely but steady.

It's important to value creativity, collaboration, and experimentation. Internally, encourage cross-departmental teams and provide resources for idea development. Externally, establish partnerships with startups, academia, and industry experts. Regularly organize innovation workshops and hackathons, and adopt open innovation platforms to invite external ideas.

Nurture innovation by fostering a mindset that values curiosity, adaptability, and calculated risk-taking. Create an environment where ideas are welcomed, celebrate both successes and failures as learning opportunities, and provide resources for continuous learning. Leadership should exemplify the importance of innovation, embrace diverse perspectives, and reinforce the commitment to creativity through recognition and rewards. Cultivate a culture where innovation is integral to how work is approached, creating a dynamic and forward-thinking organizational environment.

I find that people with a positivity bias and open mind cultivate a culture of curiosity, imagination and dwelling in possibility…?While teams who start reacting to a thought or concept with, "Oh, that'll never work." might face institutional inertia to expect headwinds on their transformation journey.

I would add that nurturing an innovation culture is vital, and it's equally crucial to merge these innovative values seamlessly with the traditional organizational beliefs. It's about finding that 'sweet spot' where innovation aligns harmoniously with the established principles. Embracing curiosity, creativity, and resilience while blending these with the core values bridges the gap between innovation and tradition—creating a path for sustainable success.

Join an innovation hub. They are organizations building ecosystems of actors (startups, corporates, regulators, etc) often specialized in a specific area (mobility, healthcare, fashion) They usually organize networking events where you can meet other players from the ecosystem (potential partner, clients) and open your mind to what is happening in the space in terms of innovation while make meaningful connections. They or their members often organize workshops or education sessions which could be very valuable to you to keep up to date. They bring the broader ecosystem to you. You can go to them when you are looking for a specific actor in the ecosystem as they usually have the broad knowledge of the industry and its players

No ecosystem exists in isolation. Connecting with other ecosystems can provide new insights, access to different skills, and expanded markets. This can be achieved through partnerships, joint ventures, attending industry events, and participating in innovation networks. Building these connections helps in staying abreast of emerging trends and technologies and can lead to collaborative innovation opportunities.

1. Networking: Engage in events and platforms to connect with diverse ecosystems. 2. Partnerships: Form collaborations to share insights and resources. 3. Knowledge Exchange: Participate in cross-industry discussions for shared learning. 4. Collaborative Projects: Initiate joint projects for diverse expertise. 5. Open Innovation Platforms: Embrace external innovators through open platforms. 6. Community Involvement: Join relevant communities for insights and updates. 7. Global Reach: Expand your network globally by connecting beyond your locale.

Build up relationships with academia, VCs and other innovation hubs externally. In case you start, make use of external venture builders or accelerators, they will kickstart your efforts before you build up your team.

Embracing the sixth step in building an innovation ecosystem is a strategic move towards fostering a dynamic network. Connecting with diverse innovation ecosystems opens the gateway to a wealth of insights and opportunities. By engaging with local, regional, national, and global networks, as well as industry-specific ecosystems, we create a collaborative environment where knowledge and resources seamlessly flow. It's not just about exchange but also about leveraging our unique strengths for mutual growth. Seeking synergies and complementarities across ecosystems amplifies our collective impact, transforming challenges into catalysts for innovation.

In considering additional elements for fostering an innovation ecosystem, looking beyond traditional boundaries is essential. Engage with individuals who bring diverse, sometimes unconventional ideas akin to 'innovation catalysts.' Embrace 'dual networking' to blend insights from varied domains, enriching your innovation process. Cultivating a culture that values different perspectives enhances the overall innovation mindset. Finally, actively seek collaborative opportunities outside your immediate ecosystem for fresh insights and potential breakthroughs. These approaches, rooted in broadening your network and perspective, are crucial for a thriving innovation environment.

We are living the after effects of a story. The story I refer to is called the story of separation. It emerged very explicitly around the 1600’s and has become the prevailing POV. But the story, metaphysically, scientifically and basically every other way we look at it is just wrong. We are relational beings. Life is a process. We, nor anything we seeing, can actually be separated from the rest of the natural world. So before you start your innovation ecosystem journey, step back and consider what story will form the basis of how you show up, relate and work with the world to give us a better chance of a more preferable future.

To create an innovative ecosystem supporting both internal and external innovation, consider: 1. Cultivate a Culture of Innovation: Foster an organizational mindset that encourages creativity, risk-taking, and continuous improvement. Celebrate both small wins and ambitious ideas. 2. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Break down silos within the organization to promote collaboration between different departments. Encourage diverse teams to bring varied perspectives to problem-solving. By combining these strategies, you can create a dynamic ecosystem that not only encourages internal innovation but also embraces external influences, fostering a culture of continuous evolution and growth.

As a startup founder, I transparently share learnings from successes and failures, including prototypes and key insights behind outcomes. I adapt my naturally collaborative communication style to suit different stakeholders, integrating visionary yet analytical language. By coupling data-driven feedback with empowering support for my team, I encourage professional growth while building trust and a knowledge-sharing culture rooted in lifelong improvement.