yet2.com and ideaken.com partnership aims to place Asia onto the Innovation World Map

 
Two years back, when ideaken team was doing their business planning, we had listed yet2.com as one of our top competitions! Today we are glad to partner with yet2.com.  –  Jayesh


yet2.com and ideaken.com partnership aims to place Asia onto the Innovation World Map


India / USA 21 Oct 2010 - yet2.com and ideaken.com today announced a partnership to jointly scout innovative solutions from individuals and technology SMEs for their enterprise clients.

Open innovation and Co-creation is the fastest emerging way to procure & supply innovation in a world of diminishing boundaries. This partnership will help both yet2.com and ideaken.com to expand their innovator solver base and get faster and better solutions for their enterprise clients. This partnership will also provide a greater opportunity for individual innovators and technology SMEs to access bigger market of innovation seekers from around the world.

Head quartered in US, yet2.com is world’s largest intellectual property exchange. ideaken.com is a leading open innovation intermediary and co-creation platform provider in Asia.

Dr. Eugene Buff, Vice President of Consulting for yet2.com, said, “Asia is a developing powerhouse of innovation that is of immense importance to the rest of the world. It’s also one of the world’s great markets for technology. yet2.com is very happy to be partnering with an organization of ideaken’s stature.”

“We look forward to a long partnership with ideaken,” said Ben DuPont, president and co-founder of yet2.com. “Innovation is not regional. Developments from Bangalore or Delhi can easily find their way to the shelves of New York or Tokyo, just as innovations from Berlin or Johannesburg may help companies in Bangalore. Organizations like ideaken and yet2.com exist to make these connections happen.”

Jayesh Badani, Founder and CEO of ideaken said “yet2.com and ideaken.com are in the business of tapping into innovative technology providers who are somewhere out there. It makes lot of sense to join forces and create a larger community of innovation seekers and innovation solvers, everybody wins this way. We help our clients collaborate to innovate; this partnership is about applying this principle to ourselves!”


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How to get ideas that are not 'a dime a dozen'?

Today, every enterprise has or plans to have some sort of an idea management initiative to capture the ideas of their employees and customers.  This could be because of a very strategic vision or the result of the hype about tapping into the wisdom of employees & customers. Some have mastered the art, but the rest end up being me too. Throughputs - some get as many as 150,000 ideas in a year and some just 15 from the same number of employees and customers. The effectiveness is equally extreme; some making real money from it and it becoming a main stream process for them, while others are completely clueless about the direction to navigate into.

Question is how organizations get hold of ideas that can elevate them to the next level, help them create a service or a product that could define a new market. In other words how do organizations harvest ideas which can make substantial & positive difference to the organizations’ objectives?

Part of  the answer lies in following two strategies, this is with an assumption that all other operational aspects are taken care.

Before you ask for ideas

• Shift your pitch from “Do you have an idea  ... “ to “Do you have an idea FOR  ...” Basically shift your pitch from generally asking for any idea to asking for an idea for a given challenge.
• If you can’t think of a challenge then run a challenge to find a challenge, you will be surprised how many you unearth!
• Stop behaving like you have the right to ask for ideas, instead create an atmosphere of co-creation.
• If you do not genuinely intend to read each of the ideas received and try to figure out the intent behind each idea then stop right here (It saves your time, yes theirs too!). Often the intent of the idea provider will lead you to the ideas you are after. 

After you get the ideas

• Lookout for the possibility of combining two not so good ideas to get the good one out of it. Or pick up the clue to make the not so good one, a really good one.
• Make the review team a mix of someone who could see the bigger picture and also someone who may not. 
• Refrain from judging the idea on the basis of how easy or difficult it is to implement it.
• Look at the act of rewarding the person with a good idea as an act of encouraging the innovation spirit and not as an act of buying out the idea.

In short addressing the points relevant to your enterprise from list above, a well defined challenge with an incentive and a committed evaluation team could fetch you ideas which are not a dime dozen.

Enterprise Culture & Enterprise Productivity, what is the connection?

Enterprises wanting to improve the productivity will typically show the signs of Six sigma and Lean. Six sigma and Lean are great tools and they produce great results, the only catch is they do so when in the right hands. The real power of these tools is to create the right culture, a culture of measurement and improvement; productivity improvement is the by-product which usually follows.

Similarly, when you want your employees to be innovative, don’t go and ask them to be innovative, create a culture for it, nurture the ecosystem, the results will soon be visible.
An enterprise which is on the path of creating this innovative culture for their employee shows the following signs.

1. They often provide opportunities to employees, which convey that the management trusts the employees.
2. Some of these opportunities are given away to all at the same time irrespective of the levels or grades of the employee.
3. There is a genuine public encouragement displayed and conveyed for every failed attempt in trying to do something new. (and the same for a successful outcome!)
4. These companies have established the connection between employee satisfaction and in providing an opportunity to express the creativity.
5. They are putting up systems and processes in place to actually take the ideas and solutions forward and benefit from it.

There is increasing evidence that an outlet for employee creativity can add to employee satisfaction and the productivity, over and above the employer benefits from implementing the employee ideas and solutions.

More enterprises are joining the league, creating an innovative culture for their employee. In this list of signs and the league, which stage are you in?

Anatomy of Rewards!

Innovators innovate for the passion of innovating, yes that is true. Then why give away rewards?

Between the guy who won’t innovate for you and the guy who will anyway innovate, there are a large number of people who are capable of innovating. To get the attention of this large number of people - you need upfront mentioning of reward. And for the guy who will anyway innovate, it is one way of saying ’you care’.

How much should be the reward?

This does not matter as long as you make it in some way proportionate to the benefit you will derive from the innovation. There is no right or wrong answer for what should be the proportion, the key is that you value the contribution and you are being fair. The best way to get the answer is ask these questions a) Will you yourself work on it for the given reward b) What is the innovation budget?, and c) How much will it cost me if I get it done from a third party innovation firm?

Having found how much I should reward, how do I decide between monetary and non-monetary rewards?

Monetary rewards are quite a safe bet in most of the cases. However if you decide to go with non-monetary rewards like fully paid vacation for two, then you must make sure that the winner is able to use it without any additional cost. Similarly if you are rewarding a Gadget, then you must consider how you will transport it to the winner. It is best to choose the non monetary rewards like Amazon gift coupons which are redeemable from anywhere in the world.

I am only partially satisfied with the solution and I like more than one solutions.

It is likely. Award partially and distribute it among the top three solution providers.

Should I distribute the reward to all who participate, this way I can be safe from any conflicts?

Once, to prove the issues with socialism, a professor agreed to average the grades. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test results rolled out, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. By the time 4th test rolled around, the average was D. When reward for merit is taken away, no one will try or want to succeed.

The greatest indirect benefit of giving away rewards is, it builds trust and curiosity, both of which can immensely help in your subsequent innovation challenge.

RESULTS = function (SOMETHINGS), here are few SOMETHINGS for an Open Innovation Seeker

The more we participate in the challenge definition exercises for our clients, the more we learn about what works and what could be improved.

In our endeavor to share the learning on how the best results could be achieved for an open innovation or co-creation challenge, below is the checklist cum scorecard for innovation seeker.

Checklist for an open innovation seeker Yes = 1 No = 0 1. Did more than two individuals, not reporting to each other, have a say in formulating your innovation challenge? 2. Did seeker team discuss what would be their plan of action if they end up getting what they are requesting from the solvers? (Doing this upfront can seriously alter how you go about executing the solution seeking) 3. Is your reward (monetary, non monetary or both) proportionate in some way to effort required by solvers? 4. Does your promotion campaign for current challenge leverage the positive memories of previous challenge run by your enterprise? 5. Does your challenge clearly mention the "must meet" expectations and the "solution evaluation criteria"? 6. Do you have a plan for monitoring progress of your challenge and promoting it accordingly? 7. Have you given a thought around NOT making challenge duration too short (that you can't reach out to right solvers) or too long (that solvers postpone solving it)? 8. Is your challenge title to the point and convey what you are expecting in very direct words? 9. Does your solver composition plan for a given challenge include solver diversity with respect to skill set, age group and geo? 10. Do you have upfront time commitment from innovation sponsor & designated reviewers for evaluating the outcome? 11. Did you test how a typical solver might perceive your challenge brief? (Get your challenge reviewed by at least 2 independent reviewers, who have no clue whatsoever on what you are after before reading the brief) 12. Is your innovation seeker team prepared to tolerate people and ideas "worse than theirs", "as good as theirs" and "better than theirs"? 13. Open innovation will throw some bad ideas at you, is your innovation seeker team ready to trash those ideas without creating an opinion of any sort? 14. Has your innovation seeker team gone past "not invented here" mind block and embracing "proudly found elsewhere" culture? 15. Is your innovation seeker team agreeable that they may not always receive exact blue print of a solution and they might have to take the ideas received to the next level? 16. Is your innovation seeker team committed to NOT use any ideas or solution received without compensating and acknowledging the idea or solution submitter? Total

We leave it to you to interpret your score, just in case you ask us our opinion, it would be as follows.

Score 13-16 You are doing great
Score 9-12 Good going, scope for improvement
Score 1-8 Must improve the score

More than getting you a score, this check list helps you initiate the thought process that could address some of the essentials around seeking a solution in an open innovation way, thereby increasing the probability of success.

If you have a suggestion on additional points for the above list, then please feel free to send it across to us at contact@ideaken.com

Employee co-creation: an elevator pitch

Employee CO-CREATION is an act of innovating with the help of talent which is primarily NOT employed as INNOVATORS in your enterprise.

Be it the culture, the education, the upbringing or the personal interest - sheer DIVERSITY of talent available within the enterprise has huge untapped potential, and this latent talent is more than willing to collaborate and make a difference for the enterprise.

We are used to executing the given task as a project, where we apply control and a kind of PUSH to get things done. When it comes to creativity, the exact opposite works. Co-creation works on the principles of a PULL, where one creates a right challenge and puts in a right incentive for someone to provide the solution. The solvers (employees or non employees) are NOT hard pressed to deliver; in fact it is a voluntary act on their side, is done with far more willingness, with a passion to make a difference, and for intellectual satisfaction.

Today innovation is no longer a geek thing happening somewhere behind the closed doors. Now every individual gets excited by a new idea, and is in search of an avenue to share it. Small could be the idea, but the pride it delivers remain high.

‘But in our business we don’t need to innovate a lot’ is fast becoming the thought from the previous decade. Fundamental reason for this shift is the emerging knowledge from WITHIN which tells the enterprises that innovation has given them good returns, dollars has been made or dollars has been saved, brand has a better positioning and employee morale has seen a boost. Best part is - these benefits come from small, incremental and continuous innovation, not from a rare path breaking one.

Enterprises are deriving several ways to leverage this newly discovered POWER OF COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION. Be it through an innovation competition, seeking new service lines to enhance the revenue, cost cutting, productivity improvement, employee satisfaction & retention, for co-creating with customers or even for a latest trend around corporate social responsibility (CSR). The list ends only where the imagination ends!

Employee co-creation is one of those few LOW hanging phenomenon where it’s a WIN-WIN for both employers and employees.

ideaken enables enterprises when they need to collaborate to innovate with employees, and optionally with customers, research vendors, academia or with the global pool of talent. Enterprises can run ideaken platform with their own branding accessible only to their employees, and optionally and selectively open up to outside world.

ideaken exhibited at Silicon India, Bangalore and Echelon 2010, Singapore

Does OPEN INNOVATION equal outsourcing innovation?

Contracting out a business function; be it IT services or Innovation; to an external provider will qualify as outsourcing. So what’s the big fuss about, why is open innovation being mentioned in all innovation forums?

On the face of it – there isn’t much difference.

While the traditional outsourcing based on Cost saving and  on demand resources; allows one to focus on their core business, it is also true for open innovation. However why open innovation is getting popular has more reasons than what meets the eye.

a) Outsourcing focuses on repeatable tasks, open innovation focuses on one- off task. (One would most probably try to open innovate when the answer is not a phone call away; at Bangalore or Beijing)

b) Outsourcing focuses on the getting job done, open innovation focuses on increasing the probability of getting that complex job done. (There are no guarantees in open innovation, but one can surely reduce the risk of not reaching out to a possible great idea)

c) Outsourcing success is based on identifying the right partner for medium to long term, open innovation success is based on having the right processes in place to leverage the long tail phenomenon. (Here the quantity of solutions does not matter, but the relevancy does and this relevancy may not be possible to be bought  from a predefined source) 

d) Outsourcing helps enterprises improve predictability, Open innovation helps enterprises improve novelty in their offerings. (Predictability is hygiene, consumers now want to be delighted)

e) Outsourcing is based on push, open innovation is based on pull. (Push works better for traditional business function outsourcing, Pull works better for creativity and innovation)

Reasons to go for open innovation could be a subset of reasons to go for a typical business function outsourcing, but the former has lot more underneath it.

Seeking a method for attaining extreme cantilever using a coilable material

The Seeker needs to extend horizontally the loose end of a small coil of lightweight stored material without external support -- essentially, achieving a cantilever supported only at one beam end. Material, beam cross-section, and beam structure are on the table -- but your solution must meet strict criteria in terms of size, weight, cost, and coilability.

The seeker envisions that there may be a better engineering or materials solution to our problem than the one we now use. We store a small coil of lightweight material (the coil size can fit in the hand), the loose end of which must extend horizontally from the coil for well over 168 unsupported inches without deflection anywhere along the extended length or at the root of the beam. There is no additional load on the cantilever beam other than the weight of its own material.

All potential solutions must face tight cost constraints. Exotic materials or difficult-to-manufacture options may be non-starters (even if successful solutions) because of costs. Your solution to this cantilever problem will need to be manufactured hundreds of thousands of times, and must cost accordingly.

Some of the constraints applicable

• Tight cost constraints.
• Able to extend horizontally 168+ inches without deflection or support except at one beam end. A greater cantilever extension would be even better.
• Able to store 168+ linear inches of material in a small coil (or in another compact storage form able to be held in one hand) no more than 3-to-5 inches in its largest dimension.
• Gross weight under 1 pound.

Note: Please make sure that only non-confidential information is submitted as part of your solution. You can submit a summary of your solution, however the solution summary should be elaborate enough to convince seeker that you have a solution.

Sign In to read more about the challenge or Sign Up Now and start solving.

Seeking to improve thermoplastic (especially polyolefin) performance properties by using additives

Our client is looking to improve the performance properties of polyolefins, polyethylenes, and thermoplastics generally. Additives, ingredients, fillers, modifiers, agents and other methods are all of interest. We are open to new additives that enhance any of a long list of properties, or that can enhance the performance of additives already in use.

Our client's focus is on finding new ingredients, modifiers, or agents that improve the balance of properties of a thermoplastic (in particular, a polyolefin) over what is currently used today. The list of properties of interest includes:

o Lighter weight
o Higher modulus
o Increase tensile strength
o Improve impact resistance
o Improve heat resistance
o Decrease density (while maintaining the same or greater strength)
o Minimize shrinkage
o Improve surface finish, feel, optical appearance, and similar aesthetics
o Improve scratch resistance and surface hardness
o Improve stiffness
o Minimize or eliminate abrasiveness (causes problems during extrusion)

Ideally, your proposed additive would provide new properties in plastics or improvements over anything currently available; or, your additive would maintain current-equivalent properties but at a greatly reduced weight or much lower cost.

Early-stage technologies are acceptable, but it is preferred that you have reduced the technology to practice at least at the lab scale.

CONSTRAINTS

• Safety is important to us. Any new ingredient should not create safety hazards when inhaled during mixing or cause harm during incineration or processing.
• Your additive must work with an extruder (or possibly a compounder). An additive that is too abrasive -- over 6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale -- may be harder than the steel in an extruder. We may make an exception for a true nano-scale additive.
• No restriction between organic or inorganic additives.
• We are NOT currently interested in new polymers (unless the polymer is added to polyolefins), new processes, or new machines.

Note: Please make sure that only non-confidential information is submitted as part of your solution. You can submit a summary of your solution, however the solution summary should be elaborate enough to convince seeker that you have a solution.

Sign In to read more about the challenge or Sign Up Now and submit your solution.