Guest Post by Vicki Catalina:

Open Innovation & Idea Manager,
Owens-Illinois(O-I)

Owens-Illinois (NYSE: OI), was in the midst of our internal innovation program, "FURNACE", rollout when I attend the latest Birds of a Feather (BOF) meeting in Chicago hosted by Kraft. At BOF, my picture of what and how we could use the site to ignite and expand collaborative innovation was quickly enhanced.

Take-aways from the BOF event:

1. Making friends with your 'likes'. Innovators and believers in innovation tend to see things differently. The diversity of companies (HP, Cisco, Avnet, Farm Credit, Emerson, Ellis Don, Kraft, GE); smaller, new, larger…from hospital systems, insurance, electronic, foods…a true testament that the majority of business types know that to be successful over the long term a strong innovative culture is a top priority. Great diverse group of people with common visions for innovation; as Paul said, "You are what you share."

2. Success and Failure is part of the game. Inspiring people to CONTRIBUTE, especially in grey areas or farther-out-there ideas, has to be continually encouraged and awarded. Interestingly, I just read "Better Ideas Through Failure" in WSJ, where the Grey Group in New York developed the "Heroic Failure" award to encourage risk-taking, to award ideas that are "edgier or riskier, or new and totally unproven." Recognition and promotion are crucial for insistent and compelling involvement, though most importantly "know your company's style".

   Tools of the trade. Tweet ups, site teasers, events, blasts, video, quotes, Iphones for immediate interaction, all become forms of communication to keep collaboration continuing. Companies shared unique applications they used to keep things new and exciting, like photo challenges, design competitions, brainstorming sessions, consumer studies like 'A Day in the Life of" or "Show me how you…"

3. Inspiration – Sarah Muller Caldicott, granddaughter of Edison, President of PowerPatterns, and author, Innovate Like Edison. Her stories and passion for innovation was moving and inspiring. One of Edison's mantras: Focus on business results.

I left the session excited and proud of the Innovation Program at O-I. By attending BOF I realized FURNACE can be developed to the likes of an Ecomagination, highly productive and participative. Brightidea provided a comfortable, open environment that top line companies openly shared their failures, successes, innovative challenges and organizations. Kraft, as to be expected, did a fantastic job at hosting the event.

About the Author: Vicki Catalina is an Open Innovation & Idea Manager at Owens-Illinois and is based in Toledo, OH and likes a challenge (anything from a business solution to running a marathon) and family-time.

Dynamic navigation has quickly become a best practice for any kinds of websites. It enables site owners to configure navigation options, so that site users can find what they are looking for faster. For a positive user experience, dynamic navigation is therefore a critical tool.

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CST/Berger, a professional measuring technology brand under the Bosch umbrella, launched their Brightidea-powered InnovationZone looking to the public for ideas on new tools, accessories, and instruments.

Bosch has been using Brightidea for a few years and recently launched a series of open innovation initiatives around each of their products. A 2010 Garnter survey looking a The New Realities of IT found, "by 2013, more than two-thirds of organizations will rank innovation management among their top five business priorities," and Bosch has already placed high importance on ideation by rolling out numerous innovation communities to better understand their customers' needs and source & develop new technologies.

The latest public innovation community focuses on CST/Berger for product innovations that increase productivity on the jobsite by meeting unmet needs or solving problems, while being sellable to the construction market. Product ideas should fit into the company's line of leveling and measuring devices and accessory ideas should functional with preexisting devices.

InnovationZone is open to the public, so submit your ideas here!