Recently, Brightidea engaged in a live Q&A session with Planview and Innovation SE on igniting and powering prioritization in innovation programs. As one of the lead speakers during the session, it was personally both exhilarating and fulfilling. I was extremely impressed with the diversity of the audience and their questions. Clearly, organizations of all sorts are thinking about how to incorporate innovation into their day-to-day and how to maximize the effectiveness of the process.

Of the 150 questions submitted during the session, most of the feedback led me to a fundamental point that we convey to everyone we work with, which is that innovation is a full end-to-end process that should lead to demonstrable results. Innovating and ideating without purpose won’t get you anywhere. The only results you’ll see are a group of frustrated participants and leadership knocking on your door asking why you wasted their most precious resources on a fruitless venture. For innovation to truly impact your business in a meaningful way, you must develop and maintain an end-to-end process that begins with strategic alignment and ends with implementation.

While developing a program process, everyone is faced with identifying which ideas are the most worthy of implementation. We took a poll during the live Q&A session about how comfortable the audience is with prioritizing ideas. Based on the poll results, it appears that many people struggle with establishing a documented process that utilizes metrics to identify which ideas have the most merit (30% of people go on gut alone). Why is it that so many people struggle with innovation process?

While many people believe that process and structure stifle creativity – critical to producing those big “Wow” ideas – this couldn’t be further from the truth. A solid process ensures that the venture will be meaningful to the business by generating outcomes and creating ROI.

At Brightidea, we believe that two elements are key to successful prioritization:

1. Establish your success criteria before starting a project.
2. Use an accessible tool that allows subject matter experts to produce a quantifiable assessment. We find that our multi-round scorecarding feature is really helpful to clients for this purpose.

Additionally, there are two questions you must access yourself before engaging in the endeavor. This first piece is critical. You must ask the question, is this pursuit in line with the strategic objectives of the company? Secondly you must ask, is there funding to implement the outcome of this process? If the answer to either of those questions is no, do not pass Go. You should start over with a new topic. Once the strategic foundation is laid, then you can go crazy with getting the smelly markers, post-it notes, squishy toys, and beanbag chairs for creativity sessions.

With a foundation of strategic alignment and funding in place as well as a solid process endorsed by all, your innovation process should deliver some pretty fantastic outcomes. If you have more questions about establishing your process, please reach out me to discuss further. If you'd like to view the recorded Q&A with Planview and Innovation SE, it's available here.

 (original use of photograph in this article on Inc.com: http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/11/how-to-run-a-brainstorming-session.html)

We are excited to announce that Brightidea will be joining one of our partners, Planview, for a live Ask the Expert Q&A on April 25. Planview Vice President Linda Roach will moderate as expert panelists Carrie Nauyalis, also of Planview, and Kristen Jordan Fotter, Innovation Consulting Leader with Brightidea, discuss how to collect and assess winning ideas while prioritizing the right ones against available resources. Planview’s focus on helping customers optimize their two most precious resources, people and money, paired with Brightidea’s proven innovative solutions will empower guests to fill their product development pipelines with ideas that fit their capacity and resources.

Brightidea is also proud to be sponsoring the 4th annual PIPELINE online conference taking place on Thursday, May 16th. With a focus on “Change the Game with Innovation that Works”, attendees will receive valuable insight from expert practitioners on innovation, product development, and product portfolio management. From case studies to recommendations you can implement right away, these best-in-class thought leaders will share their industry knowledge and success stories to help attendees discover ways they can implement innovation that works.

Our friends at Hult International Business School are ramping up for their annual Innovation Olympics and are in search of new clients that would like to leverage the collective brain power of diverse teams of MBA students. These students will work with participating companies to develop breakthrough business plans as they compete for Innovation Gold to come up with the most impactful idea. It's a great program that allows companies to benefit from external perspectives and receive valuable innovation input. Previous participants include Levi's, Verizon, GE, P&G, and Pfizer.

For more information on the Innovation Olympics, watch this video. 

 

Paul Tran: [Brightidea] from Brightidea on Vimeo.

On December 11th the Maven Open2012 brought the Open Innovation community to Silicon Valley to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by OI and bridge the chasm between the most innovative place in the world, Silicon Valley, and the most important innovation management development in the past fifty years. 

Attendees learned about the roots of the OI movement, heard case studies from some of the world's largest companies on their OI successes, saw product demonstrations from the leading companies delivering services to OI professionals, and found out about the massive opportunities available to entrepreneurs creating solutions to help enterprises connect, collaborate, and develop new products.

Paul Tran, Director at Brightidea, was there to deliver the Brightidea Open Innovation overview including the vision of Innovation OnDemand, the Brightidea Innovation Grid, and how large organizations are using OI to solve their biggest challenges. You can watch the 9 minute replay on Vimeo.

Read the full text in Spanish here. Read the full text in Portuguese here. The next Innovation Leaders Birds of a Feather (BOF) event is coming soon in September. For the first time ever Brightidea and innovators from around the world are heading to Latin America for BOF LATAM 2012! There will be not only one, but two BOF events – September 4-5 in Santiago, Chile hosted by Empresa Nacional de Energia ENEX S.A. and September 11 in Campinas, Brazil hosted by CPFL Energia. This latest BOF is sure to bring together an exciting group of innovation experts and practitioners from LATAM, an area that has been gaining momentum with an unprecedented uptick in innovation programs emerging in top regional companies.

September 4-5 ENEX, a leading energy company born out of the Shell Group, will be hosting the first BOF LATAM at its headquarters in Santiago, Chile. Speakers will include Brightidea's CEO Matthew Greeley and Guillermo Beuchat, Senior Business Strategy and Innovation Consultant at Transforme Consultores. ENEX's BOF LATAM 2012 will start off with a pre-event where attendees will be going on a Chilean wine tour near Santiago to get a unique look at innovations at smaller, boutique vineyards. The main event will include insights and presentations from elite local innovation program managers including a talk from the government agency CORFO about how the Chilean government is sponsoring innovation.

September 11, innovation program managers from Brazil will come together at CPFL Energia, the largest private holding company in Brazil's electricity sector, headquarters in Campinas, Brazil. Sharing their best practices and speaking about their experiences in corporate innovation will be keynote speakers, Matthew Greeley, CEO at Brightidea, Cristiano Kruel, senior business strategy and innovation consultant at Simplez, Vinicius Teixeira, from CPFL Energia, Miguel Alacantara, CIO of CVC, and Ivan Goncalves, from Positivo, the largest computer manufacturer in Latin America.

Register today, spots are limited. Please note, while we try to accommodate all requests, Brightidea customers are given priority access to all BOF events. What's in store for you at BOF, check out the video of our last BOF hosted by Motorola Solutions!

Pre-Registro Birds of a Feather Chile

Pré-Registro Birds of a Feather Brasil

Tuesday July 3^rd, 2012 Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF) is hosting the July edition of their IBF Live a unique interactive visual radio for 'intranet and digital workplace managers' where members can interact and connect with fellow viewers during the broadcast.

This 44^th episode will feature Art Beckman, Program Lead HP Software Innovation and Brightidea's co-founder Vincent Carbone as they discuss HP's internal innovation platform The Garage. For years, Brightidea software has powered The Garage, where 300,000 employees can easily share ideas and collaborate on a host of different topics organized by business units. During this edition of IBF Live, Art will be talking about how HP has been utilizing tools to facilitate innovation, while Vincent will go over the best practices in idea management.

This exclusive event is not limited to IBF members only – you can sign up for a free one-time guest pass, but there is a limited supply so register soon!

Our next Brightidea Innovation Leaders Birds of a Feather (BOF) event is approaching! June 6-7, Brightidea and innovation experts from across the world are heading to Schaumburg, Illinois, just outside of Chicago and home to the world headquarters of our host, Motorola Solutions.

Heidi Hattendorf Director, Innovation Development at Motorola Solutions states, "the BOF event is an excellent opportunity for industry leaders of global brands to compare best in class Innovation practices and exchange ideas. We're pleased to be hosting this year's BOF."

The 2-day event will kickoff with an insider look at the Motorola Solutions Innovation Center for a hands-on experience with many of today's most advanced products and solutions. The following day, participants will enjoy several TED-style presentations and interactive sessions at Motorola Solutions. Speakers include Heidi Hattendorf, Director of Innovation Development at Motorola Solutions and Jeffrey Philips, author of 'Relentless Innovation'. Similar to previous BOFs, attendees with have a chance to participate in interactive breakout sessions on important topics in innovation management and connect with peers throughout the day.

Paul Tran, Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, says, "I am proud to announce that Motorola Solutions is hosting our BOF AMERICAS Innovation Leaders Conference this year. They have been a pioneer of technological innovation for over 80 years. What makes this event unique is that attendees will have the great opportunity to tour their Innovation Center and learn how their innovation programs help drive an effective and sustainable company's culture. This is a tremendous opportunity for Innovation Executives to get first hand knowledge from globally recognized brand."

Register today, spots are limited for this exclusive event. Please note, while we try to accommodate all requests, Brightidea customers are given priority access to all BOF events.Want to know more? Check out this video on BOF below!

This is part of our One-on-One at BOF video series, featuring interviews from innovation leaders who presented at Kraft's Birds of a Feather Innovation Leaders (BOF) event.

EllisDon, one of the largest building contractors in Canada, was present with their Web Application Manager, Christine Zakrajsek, to discuss the company's innovation strategies. After her presentation we had a chance to catch up with Christine for a quick interview and when asked about how the company defines success, she responded, "We define success at EllisDon about engagement because we believe that engaged employees are happy employees and happy employees are successful business." Christine continued by saying, "once you get the sharing and the engagement, the innovation almost happens naturally, and once you have that natural organic innovation the ROI bubbles up."

Take a look at her exclusive interview below.

Join our BOF Community of Innovation Leaders today and get insights, access, and instant connections to practitioners around the world.

As Europe's largest economy and leader in patent registrations, Germany has been a hub of cutting-edge research and technologies. German businesses traditionally team up with academic institutions to drive technological progress. In recent years, more enterprises have opened their innovation processes to harness the collective wisdom of their workforces, customers, and partners.

Handelsblatt Open Innovation conference is Europe's flagship event on Open Innovation. This year's event in Berlin attracted participants from companies like Bayer, Cisco, Ford, Google, Nestlé and Procter&Gamble who discussed practical knowledge and best practices.

Among the keynote speakers was Matt Asman, Head of Innovation at Cisco Europe. Matt gave a fascinating insight into Cisco's innovation program that has driven impressive results.

As a core discipline, innovation at Cisco is embedded on all levels, from corporate vision to execution. In his presentation, Matt described how people, processes, and technology were taken into account when developing the comprehensive program. Talking about securing internal support and participation, he said: "For innovation managers it is dangerous to lean back. They need to be pro-active and constantly reach out to the company's stakeholders to stimulate collaboration."

Brightidea's software to power the I-Zone, an internal hub for employees to share and discuss ideas. "The I-Zone has been fundamental to the program's success," explained Matt. "It enables us to tap into our employees' knowledge and surface ideas that would otherwise remain unknown."

The results are impressive. The current innovation portfolio that has emerged from the hundreds of ideas submitted to the I-Zone is expected to generate over 360 million U.S. dollars in revenue over the next three years.

Other presentations at the conference included Procter & Gamble's Connect + Develop initiative and Nestle's Sharing is Winning Open Innovation program.

Frank Mattes, CEO of innovation-3, German Open Innovation thought-leader, and Premier Brightidea Partner, also spoke at the conference. In his presentation, he outlined the five key Open Innovation trends in Germany.

The Handelsblatt Open Innovation conference provided participants with hands-on insights from peers and confirmed the value of collaboration in driving – and managing – innovation processes.

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.