Under a model of Zeppelin LZ 129 in original size, the first Innovation Night took place on 15th November within the series Innovation B in the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Oliver Gassmann, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, was guest speaking on the innovation power of companies. Starting-point of his speech was that innovations often arise contrary to any rules and that higher expenditures for R&D do not guarantee success.

Gassmann mentioned a study of Kienbaum consultants on the innovation efficiency of companies monitoring the output of 1919 new ideas. Out of all ideas 369 concrete projects arose, 176 became finished products and 52 of them were brought to market entry. 24 of these were total losses, 17 developed on average and only 11 provided real success.

One could easily believe of innovations being only chance, but according to Gassmann you got to increase the probability of success. He therefore recommended an integrated management of innovations in the context of corporate strategy. Processes should be actively and systematically designed, but also free spaces should be provided. Furthermore important is to permanently question the principles a company believes in. Gassmann underlined that innovation to 80 percent is only recombination of existing elements. Therefore innovation in networks through integration of lead users and cooperation with other companies is fundamentally important. Without trust however, none of this would work. That is why man stands in the centre as the core of innovation.

After the Innovation Night we had the possibility to talk with Oliver Gassmann especially on his work on Open Innovation at the Institute for Technological Management at the University of St. Gallen. Thereby Gassmann told us that he will visit Henry Chesbrough in Berkeley soon and potentially a joint book project is planned with Chesbrough. So we are curios if this collaboration will fulfill our expectations.