Dear Clients, Solution Providers, Partners, and Colleagues,

2012 has arrived, and there is a feeling of optimism in the air. We are seeing that many of the innovators we work with are investing heavily in innovation right now. Organizations of all sizes are looking towards the future, and the many opportunities that beckon.

We finished a record quarter in Q4 2011, and we have NEVER had as good of a start to the new year as we have right now. In all of 2011 we were up significantly in terms of sales orders and revenues, and we added some world class talent to the teams in all the different regions.

We thank all of you for making this possible. It is your trust in our ability to add significant value to your businesses, as well as the confidence you have in the NineSigma team including Partner Organizations, that make us the trusted innovation partner to organizations globally.

Some of the Highlights in 2011 were:

·         A successful capital raise in March that allowed us to invest in further rapid growth

·         A highly praised OI Leadership Summit in Washington DC in May that drew 100 Innovation Executives (and please note that the next one is October 1-3, 2012 in Philadelphia – reserve your place at http://www.ninesigma.com/summit2012.aspx)

·         New services such as

o   QuickScan (a VERY fast and pointed mini-landscape on a Client Need),

o   Technology Landscaping and Monitoring (an in depth analysis of technologies and their respective maturity, as well as recommendation for the most suitable one’s for a Client as a “one off” or ongoing on a repetitive basis),

o   The world’s first Collaborative Innovation Psychometric Assessment that allows companies to measure an individual’s and team’s propensity to being good collaborators

·         The opening of a NineSigma office in Melbourne, Australia, bringing the total regional headquarters count to four

As we look to 2012, we are excited about the many new initiatives we will bring to market for you. Especially of interest is a ground-breaking program aimed at increasing value for clients and solution providers through an open exchange that will provide more opportunity for co-development and collaboration.  With these new initiatives, we are focusing our efforts on helping you to de-risk your innovation portfolio, and to accelerate your speed to market. In other words, we are going to help create a world where FEARLESS INNOVATION is the new reality.

Best wishes from all of us here at NineSigma,

Andy Zynga, CEO

Much has been said lately about how open and collaborative innovation requires different parties to achieve outcomes built on trust. Indeed, we identified “lack of trust” as the number one reason why teams fail in our November 10 blog post. 

I looked up “trust” in Wikipedia and learned that in sociology and psychology: “…the degree to which one party trusts another is a measure of belief in the honesty, fairness, or benevolence of another party…”

One of the complications in collaborating with external parties is that building a belief in the other party’s “honesty, fairness and benevolence” usually requires a series of face to face interactions that convince each party of the other’s benevolent character. What’s more, the “trust” factor may extend to the party’s representative, but perhaps not to the whole company.

This is why it so essential for any practitioner of Open and Collaborative Innovation to have a structured program for  “Partner of Choice” messaging. This encompasses guidelines on how much flexibility is given in negotiations, creation of “win-win” legal agreements, and an openness on the intentions, goals, and the deal breakers. The mantra needs to be “no surprises”.

On the subject of win-win legal agreements, I was at IP Week in Brussels last week, where I (as well as other great companies like Intel, L’Oreal, and Arthur D. Little) spoke on Open Innovation. The audience was full of IP and Patent Lawyers. After our respective speeches one lawyer asked: “How does the legal profession have to change in order to get better at Open Innovation?” I responded that there are 2 major things: Number one is to think in terms of what the other party would and will find acceptable in order to create a “win-win”. Too many times negotiations start out with a legal agreement that EVERYBODY knows the other party cannot accept. Softening the standard corporate term sheets would be a good first step. Number two is to think in terms of “acceptable risk”. It is kind of linked to the first item, but really, any time you talk to lawyers, the focus is “risk, risk, risk”…However, I often resort to asking lawyers – what is the likelihood of this or that event happening, and often it is negligible! When you’re clear on what risks are acceptable you are a long ways towards being able to create a good basis for negotiations.

So, to build trust, the partners need to be open and clear about their intents, objectives, and the process, AND be fair and balanced in crafting a legal framework for collaboration.

The result according to Wikipedia: “Trust is also seen as an economic lubricant, reducing the cost of transactions, enabling new forms of cooperation and generally furthering business activities, employment and prosperity.”

Best wishes to all of you, and keep building the trust!

Dear Clients, Solution Providers, and Partners:

We at NineSigma are entering this new decade filled with gratitude and pride for all that we have been able to accomplish in the first decade of our existence.  Thanks to your continued support we closed 2010 as a record year in terms of revenues, profits, and roll out of new services.  And for this, all of us here at NineSigma thank you very much.

You will have noticed some new initiatives that add value to your business:

·        A strategic partnership with design powerhouse Nottingham-Spirk, through which we are able to jointly develop and launch into market new products for our clients within 18 months or less

·        A multi-client “linked Innovation” service, by which bigger issues get solved in a collaborative fashion across different constituents

·        An OI Scorecard, or diagnostic test that enables you to assess where your organization stands on your specific OI capabilities

But there are many exciting things on the horizon right now that we know you will enjoy:

·        The world’s first “Collaborative Innovation Assessment” for individuals and teams that will “measure” propensity for collaborative innovation of people.  This will be rolled out at CoDev in Arizona at the end of this month

·        Our third OI Leadership Summit that will be held May 2-4 in Arlington, Virginia.  The last summit was such an overwhelming success for our clients that we were asked repeatedly when we’d have the next one.  Well, we listened and are making improvements in accordance with what we heard you say about the last one.

So, we have built some great momentum and will continue to work hard to deliver value to you and your teams.

We wish you a healthy, happy and successful year in 2011!

Cordially,

Andreas M. Zynga

Chief Executive Officer

Exactly one month ago I was sworn in as a US Citizen, and this 4^th of July will thus have special meaning to me.  I will now look at what’s happening on this day with a sense of belonging and sharing, and being a part of something bigger. I think in a lot of ways that is what happens when people practice Open Innovation. When collaboration between two companies is done successfully, they will share many very important details around their future growth goals and projects, and create something that is bigger. It is almost like being “sworn in” to be a part of the community of Open Innovation Practitioners.

America became a very successful nation by being a “melting pot” of people from all nations; people that brought their brains, their energy, and their passion here in order to build a future for themselves and this country. Again, there is a striking analogy here since Open Innovation is also about people from all nations bringing solutions to problems that will help companies, and consequently also countries to have a better future. Could America have been as successful if only one set of people were allowed to contribute to this country?

Lastly, when thinking about the birth of this nation, there was a set of progressive thinkers that were passionate about doing the unthinkable:  To create a true democracy, with “The People” contributing to the development of the country and its institutions. Likewise, Open Innovation was started by some progressive thinkers that did the unthinkable: To say that more and more innovation needs to come from the outside!

My hope is that just like this great country that has been around for well over 200 years, Open Innovation is here to stay as well. It has had its revolutionary wars, but it has come a long way from its early days.

A Happy 4^th of July Weekend to all of you!

Sincerely, Andy Zynga