The Openeur bestpractice-archive - frequently updated and now directly accessible by Tab

Inspiring moments

A few interesting Open Innovation projects - customer integration at its best:

Nokia Concept Lounge

How a brand engages the Internet community and rallies it around its brand value.
Mobile communication represents a two-way street also in the area of marketing, as loyal customer relations are crucial. Especially since Nokia views its customers as the be-all and end-all of everything it does.
Without customer input there is no innovation and without innovation there are no new customers. (thesedays.com)

Great video describing the functionality of the Concept Lounge

Lego - Lego Factory

LEGO’s LEGO Factory has been around for a while, but it remains an inspiring example of how to truly unleash THE GLOBAL BRAIN. Children and other building enthusiasts visiting the site are invited to design models (using easy to use, free downloadable software) and take part in competitions for LEGO prizes. A popular contest last year entitled winners to have their model mass produced and sold in Shop@Home, receiving a 5% royalty on each set sold. While customers can still upload their creations and have them become part of Lego’s official catalogue, the royalty scheme sadly has been nixed. (trendwatching.com)

Nintentdo - Wiiware

Staples - Idea Hunt - Invention Quest

BIG and Staples identified an opportunity for Staples to create private-label products that offered more innovative features and benefits than commodity goods. To keep inventors focused, the Hunt scope was narrowed to filing and note-taking products. BIG helped Staples articulate the guidelines, wrote the Hunt spec, and then publicized it to our network (via mail, email, and web). At the conclusion of our 6-week Hunt, we had approximately 300 ideas.

In 2003, Staples inaugurated a nationwide consumer contest for the best new concepts in office supply products. The main goals of contest were to discover innovative products to fuel Staples’ private-label brands, to generate positive PR, and to drive traffic to Staples’ retail sites.Working with both product development and marketing specialists at Staples, Big Idea proposed, outlined, managed, and helped judge the event. Culling through nearly 8500 submissions, BIG identified the best for invitations to the Semi-Finals, which we organized and ran. The process culminated in a best-of-the-best competition among 12 Finalists in New York City. The event, staged at the New York NASDAQ, generated national media coverage, including inventor appearances on Regis and Kelly. The grand prize of $25,000 was awarded to the WordLock, an innovative lock that uses letters (and words) instead of numbers. (Big Idea Group)

Our bestpractice-archive - now available for our english readers: (last update 30.08.2007)

Open Innovation platforms

Innocentive.com - solve technical problems - Openeur-Post
(Joit-Venture with the Rockfeller Foundation to solve problems of the third world - Openeur-Post)
Picnic - Sent in your ideas to save the planet (via springwise)
Yet2.com - patent trading
Ninesigma.com - Innovation networking
IXC Australia - Similar approach as ninesigma
Eureke medical - Medical Open Innovation platform

Some Open Innovation Startups

fellowforce.com - open innovation competions
ideawicket.com - evaluating business models
crowdspirit.com - product development by the crowds
spigit.com - a Startup game - evaluating business ideas
Incuby.com - online community for inventors
Ideaconnection - Open Innovation - idea marketplace
Ponoko - Rapid Prototyping platform
Ringside Startup - Startup founded and funded by the crowd (failed) - Openeur-Post

Innovation Agency & Services

Big Idea Group - inventors network and innovation consulting
Brainreations.com - pro brainstorming and co-creation with creative young consumers
Brainreations.net - online brainstorming rooms and brainstorming platform allowing creation of customer communities online
Ideacrossing - Innovation Quests
Sense Worldwide - market research & trend company with own lead user network and impressive clients

Company centric sites

Salesforce AppExchange - webbased business incubator to develop and distribute salesforce-products
vocalpoint.com - P&G Network for women
BMW Customer Innovation Lab - customer integration tool
Lego Factory - tool for lego enthusiasts - Opeur-Post
Coke Studios - coke community
Gamegchanger - Shells innovation incubator & venture wing
Audi Virtual Lab (offline)
Henkel Innovation Trophy - inventors can upload their ideas
Staples Invention Quest - new-product award - Opeur-Post
Peugeot - design contest
Nespresso - designing a coffee machine
Mastercard - creating a slogan
Nokia Concept Lounge - Nokia mobile design contest - Opeur-Post
Muji - plattform to rate, improve and suggest new products
MTV - Send in your Ideas to improve MTV
Dell - One of the best Open Innovation Lead User integration tools
Kraft - Send in your Ideas and support Kraft

Fashion

threadless - tshirt community
Naked&Angry - threadless for ties and wallcoverings
spreadshirt - create and sell your shirts
cafepress - design mechanding products
zazzle - design mechanding products

Publishing

createspace - On Demand Open Publishing Service by Amazon.com - Openeur-Post

Crowdsourcing platforms

cambrianhouse.com -crowdsourcing community
guru.com - the world’s largest plattform for freelancers
Amazon Mechanical Turk - lowcost crowdsourcing

Freelancing / Offshoring
elance.com - Freelancing
guru.com - Freelancing platform
odesk - professional offshoring-management-platform

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunded Entertainment

A Swarm of Angels – crowdfunded movie
Sellaband – crowdfunded bands
Artistshare – crowdfunded artist
myfootballclub.co.uk - crowdfunded soccer club

Crodwfunding-Tools

fundable.com - crowdfunding-tool
chipin.com - crowdfunding-tool
donorschoose.org - crowdfunding for education
actblue - crowdfunded politcal campaigns
Cambrian House – crowdsourcing community

Social Lending-P2P (commercial)

prosper.com - direct P2P
zopa.com - P2P with risk-buffering fonds

Social Lending-P2P (donations)

kiva.org - microcredits
grameenfoundation.org - donations

(Last update: 29.08.2007)

“If you are a professional creative and believe that globalisation can have a human face you have come to the right place.” www.shapeshifters.net

Shapeshifters uses their webplatform and the individual network of each community member to connect creative people around the globe. In difference to other communities the aim of shapeshifters is to foster real-life contacts or even businesses via their web based platform. Just visit their homepage for further information.

Innocentive and the Rockefeller Foundation have announced an interesting collaboration today sensitizing scientists and entrepreneurs for problems of the poor and vulnerable in the world. Thereby Innocentive will provide its platform for this non-profit application of Crowdsourcing. Rockefeller will offer rewards for the best solutions.

We consider this approach very promising for solving social problems with the support of the masses’ innovation power. Frank Piller writes about this today as well:

It has been shown that this “broadcasting” of problems instead of seeking for a problem internally is a highly efficient mechanism. So using it not only for commercial firms, but to generate science and technology solutions to pressing development problems, is a great idea.

For further information on the topic look at: Rockfound Foundation, Economist

How real virtual worlds can become is shown by the role-playing online game Second Life by Linden Lab. There are more than two million avatars inside this virtual reality by now. The game with an entry free of charge contains tools allowing even complete laymen to create detailed, virtual items. What is special to Second Life is that players have the opportunity to sell these items for a virtual currency to other users. Thereby an exchange system exists coupling the virtual currency on the US-Dollar allowing an exchange in both directions. In the meantime, virtual banks and stock markets have developed inside Second Life trading with the internal currency.

On this basis a far reaching market of digital goods has been created on which digital items or services can be traded for real money. Out of this a whole economic system came into being in which 800.000 dollar a day change hands inside the game. With Second Life there is a virtual world without limits in which every player can decide to produce things and sell them to others or simply just to consume.

The real dimension of Second Life is shown by the fact that in some Asian countries the production of in-game-goods has become a small industry with several hundred jobs. The supplied goods reach from airplanes or clothes to body parts and self programmed in-game-games. The most prominent example for this phenomenon is the game figure Anshe Chung, being the richest person within Second Life with a fortune of 250.000 dollars. Anshe Chung specialized in designing virtual landscapes selling them afterwards to paying customers. With this business model the former teacher in the meantime earns her living.

The business models inside Second Life are thereby just as manifold as in the real world. The risk of becoming an entrepreneur however, is far less within a virtual network. Here it is a good idea that counts in the first place. The simple tools provide the implementation.

The innovation of Second Life can be specified: virtual worlds coupled with real money. It is the virtual entrepreneurs steadily developing Second Life. The reportage by the media furthermore has let Second Life arrive in reality. Companies like IBM already start with developing own business models within Second Life, lifestyle companies like Adidas open virtual shops. The boundaries between virtuality and reality seem to become increasingly blurred.

The success of the American shirt community Threadless is one of the most exciting stories in the movement of Open Innovation. Threadless has succeeded in rallying a very creative and vital community round them, pooling almost any working steps and risks on its users. The business model is as simple as evident: there are thousands of designers on the web who are willing to distribute their creations to as many people as possible. Threadless provides the platform for a permanent competition on designs.

Designers have the possibility to publish blueprints for shirts on Threadless. The community is able to rate them over a certain period of time and the blueprints with the most positive votes are subsequently produced by the company. The rights are passed to Threadless and the designer gets 2.000 dollars in return. In order to honor the merits of designers his or her name is printed on the label on the inside of the shirt. The number of needed shirts is calculated on the basis of experiences and estimated in correlation to registered votes. Thus sales can be backed and the risk for Threadless is relatively small.

It’s the community stupid!

Threadless has managed it as well as few other services to let the own community feel to be part of the project. There are several programs encouraging communication and interaction within the community. Users who take a picture of themselves in a Threadless shirt and afterwards upload it on Threadless get credits for which they can buy shirts again. Furthermore there exists an internal affiliate-system rewarding recommendations. Thereby the user’s identification with Threadless is strengthened also increasing the demand for other products.  The sales of the company having about 20 employees at the moment are estimated on 18 million dollars this year. By 6.5 million shirts sold a year and a yield on sales of approximately 35 percent there stay respectable earnings left. How Threadless will develop in the future has to be waited for and seen considering the recently published funding by venture capital. Potential for growth exists anyway.

Avoiding Procter&Gamble and all of its products in everyday life might be almost impossible. Trademarks as Ariel, Gillette, Pampers or Pringles and many others belong to P&G. In 2000 however, the company, understanding itself as very innovative, went into a deep crisis. The success of new products went enormously down and the stock price was halved in consequence of this. An increase in R&D expenditures was not further possible, but sales increases had to be reached nevertheless. New CEO Alan G. Lafley showed the way out of the crisis by fundamentally changing the company’s culture. The strategy “Connect & Develop” implemented by him had the goal to develop about 50 percent of all innovations outside the company’s own research department. The following restructuring made the company one of the most impressive examples for the enormous potential within the concept of Open Innovation.

Today, more than 35 percent of P&G’s new products in market contain elements originally developed outside of P&G. 45 percent of all initiatives within the product development portfolio possess key elements discovered externally. Through „Connect and Develop“ in combination with other improvements in production costs, design and marketing, the R&D productivity of P&G has been increased by almost 60 percent. The success rate of innovations has been doubled, while the costs of innovations declined. Investments in R&D relative to sales have been reduced from 4.8 percent in 2000 to 3.4 percent today.

Principally it is very easy to summarize P&G’s line of action: building and exploiting innovation networks of all kinds. Today, these networks reach from supplier networks being encouraged to send in new ideas right up to web platforms like NineSigma or Innocentive on which P&G is actively searching for solutions to special problems. This way, P&G does not only fall back upon its 7500 own researchers, but on millions of experts situated all around the world. Furthermore a staff of innovation scouts was installed, searching internationally for new ideas and improvements to existing products.

The model is filled with life by many of P&G’s employees today. They have understood that is not very useful to renounce external help. Even when the company already employs many of the best and most talented researchers, there are because of widespread knowledge in the world still a huge amount of equally talented developers on whose competencies the company cannot forego. However, therefore necessary is an open culture that is able to deal with the so called NIH-syndrome („not invented here“) and to create a positive climate within the company for the acceptance of external developments out of which innovations could possibly arise.