5 Reasons Collaborative Innovation Ecosystems Could Be The Future Of Business

Corporations are increasingly under pressure to stay ahead of the competition. Improving their products, services, and brand experience is one way to accomplish this. To maintain market share and business growth, many companies have established innovation development divisions to conduct R&D and develop new products and service offerings.

Most keep their innovation processes and programs secret to avoid rival companies stealing their ideas. While going it alone in secret has many IP protection and business advantages, it also comes with a slew of disadvantages. Closed innovation programs can be expensive in terms of salaries and technology development, and they are often not as fast as founder-driven start-ups.

Let's face it, 9-5 innovation is slow.

For most corporations, there are three basic types of systems:

Solo “Closed” Innovation?entails a single organization pooling its resources, its knowledge, and its capabilities to solve a problem or develop a new product/service.

Partnership "Closed" Innovation:?Two or more organizations collaborate to solve a problem or develop a new product or service by pooling resources, knowledge, and capabilities.

"Open" Innovation:?This is a collaboration paradigm in which several organizations collaborate in an ecosystem for the mutual benefit of all members and stakeholders. It's a group of organizations that collaborate to come up with ideas to solve problems and find innovative ideas or technologies to do so. Existing enterprises, start-ups, governments, universities, technical institutes, and other entities make up this collaborative, which works together to develop, test, and launch new technologies.

As Head of Programs for Canada’s Communitech, I am "all in" for Open Ecosystem Innovation and building vibrant communities of interest! Let me elaborate on why.

“Collaborative Innovation Ecosystems (CIEs)”.

Given the high cost of innovation, many firms are beginning to recognize that partnering with start-ups might help them accelerate their time in the market, giving them a much-desired competitive advantage.?

While working as the director of UX for a large Canadian financial institution, I saw the challenge of creating, testing, and refining innovations firsthand. It was hard to bring new technology to the market fast enough before another tech company launched a similar tool and took a "first-mover" market share.

CIEs are networks of various enterprises, individual contributors, and important technology providers who share a commitment to collaborative innovation. The concept is to use technology and a community-based approach to tackle big problems by bringing together corporations, governments, and start-ups. It's a win-win-win situation for everyone.

Corporations and start-ups benefit from this approach because they can learn and prototype more quickly. Governments benefit by assisting in the development of economically stable tech regions and helping to promote and procure "Made in Canada" tech. Academia wins by helping to validate its scientific theories and giving professors and graduates real commercial and social problems to solve.

Here are five reasons why you should look into Collaborative Ecosystem Innovation if you haven't already:?

1. Collaboration is more efficient.?CEI reduces the chance of failure in terms of invention. Corporate innovation is costly and time-consuming, especially when considering the time individuals spend trying to solve challenges that arise when working on projects alone and with limited feedback. The concept behind collaborative platforms is simple: rather than investing in tools and ideas on your own, you team up with startups and other stakeholders that share the same vision or mission. Many hands make light work, as they say. Collaboration can help you achieve your objectives faster and more efficiently than if you were doing it alone.
2. Collaboration improves time to market—giving businesses a competitive advantage. Companies that can swiftly bring innovative items to market and iterate on them will be successful in the future. Iteration speed is largely determined by the ability to incorporate customers from the start of a product development cycle. Corporations' speed to market is accelerated by collaboration between corporations and start-ups. This is due to the fact that start-ups build their products in shorter time frames, allowing them to test them in the market more quickly.
3. Collaboration accelerates learning cycles.?When it comes to understanding complex problems or coming up with fresh ideas, many brains are undoubtedly better than one. Working in a "shared problem community", you obtain access to information and procedures that would normally take years to develop by tapping into the collective wisdom of your partners, start-ups, and other specialists. Companies, groups, and individuals can collaborate on common goals in an ecosystem built around a certain topic or problem area, with all stakeholders sharing expertise and information along the way. Think barn raising!
4. Collaboration raises awareness of your brand or idea.?A good collaborative platform or ecosystem may highlight the best goods from a variety of businesses as part of a greater whole – a constantly changing menu or marketplace of products or services. This increased visibility might aid in the creation of buzz around your brand or idea.
5. Collaboration helps to reduce risk and allows businesses to diversify their innovation portfolios—this helps them place bets across diverse products, markets, and business models while also assisting them in navigating the unknowns of future technologies and business models.

Challenges with building a Collaborative Innovation Ecosystem

While the idea of collaboration may appeal to corporate innovation officers, there are a few things to consider if anyone is thinking about building their program.

Despite their many benefits, these ecosystems can be difficult to set up, administer, and maintain. Building an ecosystem of corporate business partners, start-up founders, government agencies, and academia takes time and effort. A successful innovative ecosystem program requires a set of conditions and professional proficiencies that not all organizations have in-house. Collaboration between people with different egos and desired outcomes needs a deft touch.

Here are a few things to consider while putting together a collaborative program.

First, each collaborative participant must?want to work with others. No collaboration can happen without this baseline desire. It’s not about extracting value at the expense of another; it's about building an innovative community built on trust and mutual benefit. Each participant needs to be committed to putting "in" to get something out. Every participant needs to care about how everyone gets value in the relationship.?

Second, collaborative participants need?a way to connect?with other participants in a meaningful and trusted way—something that allows them to go beyond just selling products or services to a vendor and looking to find long-term partnerships with firms they can learn from.

Third, collaborative participants need to?be flexible?enough to adjust their strategy when necessary. This means being willing to abandon ideas that are working poorly but also being open to trying new things as opportunities present themselves.

Fourth, collaborative participants need an?organizational structure and a charter?that support these efforts. This means creating a space and environment for trust and collaboration. A formal charter and digital virtual collaboration platforms are very useful in providing a safe space and structure.?

Finally, collaborative ecosystems need to have the?right metrics in place: Participants need regular feedback on their progress, so they know how well their efforts are working and when they need an adjustment. The collaborative participants need to understand the progress they are making.?

Conclusion

Collaborative Innovation Ecosystems offer several benefits to corporations, including increased efficiencies in time and cost, the ability to cover more "innovation ground," and the opportunity to have access to resources and ideas outside of the corporation’s or start-up’s specialty.?They offer an alternative or complement to in-house innovation programs and a new way for corporations to accelerate their innovation aspirations.

For start-ups, participation in a Collaborative Innovation Ecosystem offers an additional advantage over conventional innovation incubation programs, including getting more exposure, networking with potential customers, product feedback, potential in-market pilot opportunities, and a chance to accelerate commercialization and business partnerships.

It's a win for federal, provincial, and municipal governments who are looking to build strong, vibrant communities, promote economic development, and build up Canada's tech sector.

If you are thinking of building an innovation ecosystem program, my recommendation is to partner with a trusted ecosystem builder/facilitator to help broker relationships and manage the collaborative environment. This is one of the things we are doing as part of our Future of X platform at Communitech, and it is super exciting! If you would like more information on this topic, please reach out. I would be happy to collaborate :-)