Innovation Roundtable - discovering the 'adjacent possible' with emerging technologies

Earlier today I attended one of Axel Rosenø's Innovation Roundtable workshops, this one being on the topic of Technology Enabled Business Model Innovation. Others will do a much better job of summarising the wide range of themes presented and discussed during this event, but here are some brief personal selected highlights:

• Shell:  We heard interesting examples of how start-ups are implementing business models in the world of transport, including Filld (fuel delivery service) and MetroMile (pay-per-mile insurance). During one of the many fruitful informal discussions, examples of interesting 'non-traditional' innovations from Shell emerged:  these included 'Fill Up and Go' and the trial of an app that used the sensors in drivers' smartphones to sense how they were driving, and reward economical behaviour with reward points.
• Bosch: For IoT innovations in a firm such as Bosch, one challenge is bringing together and aligning the different worlds of what were described as the 'Machine guys' with the 'Internet guys'.  Bosch use a very structured process to explore IoT opportunities (solution sketches, mapping value drivers >value proposition >value delivery, stakeholder network diagrams etc.)
• JLR:  Innovation in automotive has been largely incremental for many years. Disruption requires a catalyst, and one example of that is the explosion of mobile communication technologies, and the way in which these are now so deeply integrated into cars. Vehicles now contain a huge range of sophisticated ICT systems that are an innovation 'gift' for car makers to exploit. For example, JLR can now offer a range of features that are enabled by the connection between the car and the driver's smartphone.  
• 3D printing: the discussions that followed the presentation of trends in 3D printing raised many common themes with those revealed during evidence gathering to support the development of UK national strategy for 3D printing. Key among these were concerns about the availability of data on the performance of different material / machine / process combinations. The discussions also highlighted the need for firms to be able to experiment with 3D printing technologies to help discover the 'adjacent possible' that could be the real opportunities for value capture from these technologies.

And on the actual logistics of the event, I like the use of Catchbox for Q&A from the floor and the IRMeet app for the use of in-presentation polls, stimulating discussions, and capturing feedback. 

New Research on "Open Innovation: A New Classification and its Impact on Firm Performance in Innovative SMEs"

This paper attempts to deepen understanding of the relationship between open innovation (OI) and firm performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on survey data from 306 Korean innovative SMEs, the results of this study show that: (1) broad and intensive engagement in OI and cooperation with external partners are positively associated with firm performance; (2) technology and market-oriented OI modes (Joint R&D, user involvement and open sourcing), involving relatively low level of changes, can positively contribute to performance enhancement; and (3) innovative SMEs benefit from working with non-competing partners, such as customers, consultancy/intermediaries and public research institutes. This work has broadened the evidence available on SMEs’ OI adoption and has proposed a new way to study OI adoption and implementation.
Click here to download full paper.

2nd Annual World Open Innovation Conference

"The Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, is pleased to announce its 2nd Annual World Open Innovation Conference. The 1st Annual World Open Innovation Conference was a “sold-out” event!
Engage with Open Innovation practitioners, and dialogue with world-renowned Open Innovation experts who share relevant research and expertise in their industry. Gain insight into the prospective value for both industry leaders and academic scholars. Learn how firms organize and incorporate Open Innovation services into their structure. National and international leading organizations will share their Open Innovation challenges with academic colleagues to foster stronger connections between business practice and academia. Academic scholars are invited to present their own research on the topic, and consider how their findings might improve and transform the performance of real organizations. One of the conference’s unique features is that it aims to address and bridge the gaps between academic research and the practical execution of Open Innovation. Join us at the World Open Innovation Conference for an opportunity to network and engage with Open Innovation practitioners."