What are the benefits and challenges of participating in external innovation communities?

El corporate venturing se está consolidando como pilar esencial en las estrategias de crecimiento empresarial. A través de estas metodologías, las empresas pueden aprovechar capacidades externas para dinamizar su innovación y acelerar el desarrollo de soluciones disruptivas. Insights clave: ??Inteligencia colectiva: Amplifica el poder creativo y de resolución de problemas, integrando múltiples perspectivas ??Desarrollo de ecosistemas: Conecta startups, corporaciones y academia, generando sinergias que habilitan avances tecnológicos ??Validación externa: Agiliza la mejora de productos mediante feedback especializado ??Nuevas oportunidades: Abre puertas a recursos, inversores y alianzas estratégicas que aceleran el ciclo de innovación

Benefits of participating in external innovation communities: 1.Gain fresh perspectives and innovative solutions from a broader network of experts. 2.Form partnerships with like-minded organizations or individuals to co-create solutions. 3. Leverage collective knowledge and resources to solve challenges faster. 4. Build relationships with potential partners, investors, or talent. Challenges: 1.Managing ownership of ideas and ensuring protection can be complex. 2.Collaborators may have differing goals, priorities, or timelines. 3.Adapting external innovations into internal processes can be challenging. 4. Sifting through numerous suggestions to find actionable solutions can be time-consuming.

??? Participating in external innovation communities can transform your business. Here's how: 1?? Gain fresh perspectives by engaging with diverse minds ??. 2?? Access cutting-edge technologies and trends earlier ??. 3?? Foster strategic partnerships to drive innovation forward ??. For deeper insights, read "Open Innovation Results: Going Beyond the Hype and Getting Down to Business" by Henry Chesbrough. #InnovationCommunity #CollaborativeGrowth

Save time, effort, and money learning from others that have already passed through the same challenge. Some of the most common I have seen are: ????Creating an innovation committee ????Training and Scaling innovation agents ????Innovation culture challenges What helped me in the past, joining Relaci, the biggest corporate innovation community in Latam

One of the greatest advantages of being actinve in the innovation ecosystem is the opportunity to collaborate and benchmark within ecosystem. Learning from the mistakes and successes of other members of the community, you save time, effort, and money, avoiding reinventing the wheel. At the same time, you can gain valuable insights into best practices and strategies that can be applied in your own organization. This exchange of knowledge and experience is crucial to accelerating progress and maximizing the impact of your innovation initiatives.

While trust and intellectual property concerns are valid challenges, they also represent opportunities for fostering stronger community bonds and establishing mutually beneficial agreements. Embracing transparency and proactive communication can mitigate these challenges, leading to deeper engagement and co-creation among members. Moreover, navigating cultural and language barriers within global innovation communities presents an opportunity to celebrate diversity and leverage collective cultural intelligence for more inclusive and impactful innovation outcomes. Balancing the need for competition with collaboration within these communities requires equilibrium that can catalyze healthy competition while fostering cooperative synergies.

Gerenciar comunidades de inova??o é uma tarefa complexa e cansativa. Planejar o envolvimento em grupos estratégicos é fundamental para garantir resultados significativos, pois participar ativamente dessas comunidades demanda tempo e esfor?o. Sem uma dedica??o clara à colabora??o, o relacionamento se torna insustentável e o canal é abandonado. é essencial investir em intera??es significativas para colher os benefícios das comunidades de forma duradoura. Planejamento e objetivos claros de envolvimento e parceria podem ajudar a alcan?ar melhores resultados.

When you first introduce yourself in such a community, do not approach it with protectionism and distrust. Do not be afraid to share ideas and discuss challenges. Chances are that everyone else there has very similar problems. Apart from some really breakthrough (and verified) ideas that actually mater, everything else is judged by implementation. It is how you are going to implement it, not the fact that at some point in your life you had an epiphany.

Another critical challenge lies in measuring the impact and ROI of community participation. Quantifying the benefits of external innovation communities can be complex due to the intangible nature of many outcomes. Developing robust metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential to demonstrate the value of community engagement to stakeholders. Additionally, ensuring that community activities align with broader organizational goals and strategies is crucial for maximizing impact and avoiding resource misallocation.

In my experience in practice TRUST, PRIORITY, and OWNERSHIP are the three biggest challenges. 1. To TRUST that everyone, and not only you, share their most valuable insights and ideas. 2. To be sure that everyone one in the ecosystem PRIORITISES your common innovation initiatives as much as you do, to prevent that you are the only one who does the work ????. 3. To have agreed on the (split of the) OWNERSHIP of the new concept jointly being developed, otherwise you might meet your partners in court sooner or later bartling over the intellectual property rights (ipr).

Overcoming the challenges that come with external innovation communities could be simply and practically seen in establishing a committee charter that highlights the vision, external innovation purpose, area of collaboration and limitations, duties and responsibilities, the innovation strategy and projects. The charter should consider the external innovation communities visions, and could be drafted, reviewed and agreed on by all considered parties. The same could be seen as a good reference whenever a challenge/conflict management is required.

Establish boundaries and guidelines for collaboration. This includes setting rules for communication, decision-making processes, and how intellectual property is handled. Clear guidelines help in managing expectations and maintaining a respectful and productive working environment.

1. Align with the community's mission and values to build trust. 2. Contribute actively and generously to the community to gain credibility. 3. Communicate transparently and follow community protocols to avoid misunderstandings. 4. Protect intellectual property through clear agreements to mitigate legal risks. 5. Dedicate sufficient time and resources to the community to ensure impact.

Overcoming the challenges of external innovation communities necessitates a shift towards a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity. Embracing a collaborative mindset where success is not zero-sum but rather amplified through collective efforts fosters a culture of abundance and mutual support. Moreover, adopting agile methodologies and embracing failure as a learning opportunity encourages experimentation and rapid iteration, accelerating innovation cycles within these communities. Leveraging emerging technologies such as blockchain and decentralized platforms can also address trust and intellectual property concerns, enabling secure and transparent collaboration while preserving individual rights.

Innovation communities which contain sector and industry participants who are adjacent to your own firm are helpful. Whilst having competitors in your broader innovation ecosystem should be encouraged (whilst managing concerns about IP or even anti-competitive behaviour), it's helpful to maintain sub-groups which contain a diverse non-overlapping group of participants (e.g. legal, insurance, tech consultancy, construction).

-Diversité des perspectives et de l'expertise : Les communautés d'innovation externes rassemblent des individus avec des parcours, des expériences et des domaines d'expertise variés. Cette diversité stimule la réflexion critique, favorise la résolution créative de problèmes et permet de mieux cerner les enjeux complexes sous différents angles. -Mise à l'échelle et amplification de l'impact : Lorsque les initiatives d'innovation d'un participant sont reconnues et adoptées par la communauté, cela peut considérablement amplifier leur portée et leur impact. La communauté peut servir de rampe de lancement pour faire évoluer et diffuser les solutions innovantes à une plus grande échelle.

Simply being part of a true Open Innovation system. For those who know how to exploit it, the collaborative advantage is the strongest business multiplier.

Participating in a global health innovation community, I observed how diverse collaboration enhanced the development of a mobile health application. Members from various backgrounds—tech, health, and business—brought unique perspectives that significantly refined the app's usability and functionality. This collaborative environment not only accelerated the development process but also embedded the application with a range of features that catered to a broader user base, showcasing the power of shared knowledge in overcoming complex challenges.

External innovation communities play a crucial role in improving innovation management because they offer unique perspectives and resources that may not be available internally. By engaging with individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences, you gain fresh insights and ideas that can inspire and enhance your own innovation projects. These communities also provide a supportive environment where you can receive feedback, validation, and guidance from fellow innovators. Additionally, external communities offer access to valuable resources, such as networks, partnerships, and opportunities, that can accelerate the success of your innovation endeavors.

There are a couple of aspects to this article - it is combining innovation communities & open innovation (looking outside own organisation for collaboration around a specific challenge) Both are useful - collaboration works on the basis that some of the smarter people might actually work elsewhere - so tapping into their insights and ideas can be valuable (but issues of Trust, ownership, intellectual property need to be addressed. In terms of a community - the ability to share pains, lessons learned & questions with peers and like minded individuals is very useful and also can be quite therapeutic. This was the basis for Innovate Island - the non-commercial group I cofounded 4 years ago to support innovators on the island of Ireland.