My colleagues work closely with innovation champions who are the backbone of their companies' open innovation programs. They hear stories of frustration, elation and the day-to-day effort that is poured into their work to make open innovation a success. These champions are part change agents, motivational speakers, visionaries, and also the 'work horses' that get the job done.
There was an interesting article on Harvard Business Review's blog yesterday that addressed the unique challenges faced by innovation champions. The author, Rita McGrath, argues that success in open innovation "depends on middle managers, scientists, and intra corporate entrepreneurs scavenging for resources in an informal way". We see this in some cases but we also see a general recognition among our clients that this is clearly not sustainable and the proper processes, organizational design, technologies and yes, budget need to be established to maintain a successful program. We like it when 'serendipity' happens and we find a highly unexpected solution and solution provider for our client, but we don't think serendipity belongs anywhere within the foundation of the open innovation program. Let NineSigma help your open innovation team launch a program. Contact us to learn more about open innovation.