In what ways can Organisation(s) benefit from open innovation through challenge-based design sprint? ( A thesis study on SprintHacks 2016, Singapore)

Most innovations fail. And companies that don’t innovate die.” (Henry Chesbrough, 2003).

Innovation is important. With the shift in innovation imperatives, an open and collaborative innovation becomes the norm where numerous large companies are seeking innovation outside their company boundaries. The new landscape of challenge prize is emerging, as 78% of new recognition, prizes have been offered for the future solution of problems. (Nesta.org.uk, 2012)

On the other hand, adapted from Design Thinking framework, the concept of Design Sprint (DSM) developed by Google Venture, quickly emerged as a fast and systematic approach to new innovation around late 2015. The combination of both concepts, Design Thinking Challenges, were not uncommon and received some success, Yet, to date, the phenomenon of applying CBDS as methods of Open Innovation to organizations had received scant research attention. The thesis seeks to fill this gap by exploring CBDS as a concept and determine its effectiveness as an Open Innovation method in a corporate context.

For the next few blog series, this thesis seeks to present the efficiency and effectiveness of the CBDS as a mechanism for co-creation of new innovation. In doing so, the author will investigate from three perspectives:

Solution Seekers: People who provide the problem statements.

Solution Providers: Individuals/groups that are capable of generating and delivering the solutions to the problem statement.

Prize Challenge Organiser: People who organize CBDS platform and facilitating the DSM process.

In addition, further investigation will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Design Sprints Methodology (DSM) in addressing the critical business hypothesis. Lastly, we aim to evaluate the User’s Usability Evaluation of Prototype Solutions Generated from the DSM.

If used appropriately, the CBDS can be a good incentive for innovation for cross industry problem statements, in particular where there is market uncertainty, and reveal new innovation and creative insights from the crowd.

Click here to read on Part 1 of Chapter 1: The current organisation innovation imperatives