BOSTON – Corporate innovation teams are primarily engaging in co-creation with existing suppliers, distributors, partners, franchisees, and customers, according to a new report published today by InnoLead, a fast-growing media and events company that helps corporate professionals at the world’s largest companies build their competitive advantage. This indicates there is a growing opportunity for innovation teams to work on building ecosystems and improving co-creation — typically defined as collaboratively developing new product or service offerings — with startups as well as with universities, government agencies, nonprofits, and other established companies.
The report, “Best Practices in Co-creation and Ecosystem Development,” features data from more than 250 senior professionals working in innovation, strategy, and research and development roles at major corporations. It revealed several essential elements for succeeding at co-creation: establishing a clearly-defined objective; limiting the complexity of IP agreements and other contracts; and putting in place “alliance managers” to ensure that projects don’t lose momentum.
“We were surprised by the number of companies that have already brought at least one product to market using co-creation as an approach — about 40 percent of our survey respondents,” said Scott Kirsner, CEO and co-founder of InnoLead. “It speaks to the increasingly collaborative nature of the 21st century economy. The winners are those companies that can bring together a diverse set of parties with unique kinds of expertise to innovate.”
The report also explores large companies’ efforts to create or participate in ecosystems with shared objectives. When asked about role models for creating successful ecosystems, the four companies that were mentioned most frequently were Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Forty-six percent of the survey respondents said that they were actively engaged in building an ecosystem; another 25 percent said they were considering it. Roughly one-quarter of survey respondents said they had not yet established metrics to gauge the value of creating or participating in ecosystems.
The survey was sponsored by Sopheon, a provider of enterprise innovation management software and services. “As companies innovate in the digital era, they are rethinking their innovation models with the aim of acting with more speed and business adaptability, said Andy Michuda, CEO, Sopheon. “We are beginning to witness the potential long-term value of innovation ecosystems, which allow them to complement internal capabilities with the myriad rich and easily accessible sources of external expertise through a variety of emerging business models.”
The survey was fielded in Q1 2019. To download an excerpt of the report, click here, or become an InnoLead member to access the full report.
This report is part of InnoLead’s series of quarterly research reports, which are available to InnoLead members, and are regularly supported by its strategic partners. In 2019, InnoLead plans to publish reports on topics including working productively with startups; innovating for efficiency and cost savings; and benchmarking successful innovation programs.
About InnoLead
InnoLead is a fast-growing media and events company that helps the world’s largest companies build their competitive advantage. Since 2013, InnoLead has built the largest community of corporate innovation, strategy, and R&D executives in both public and private companies, helping these executives to strengthen their innovation programs; connect with useful resources, solutions, and vendors; and engage with peers inside innovative labs and workplaces around the globe. For more information about InnoLead membership and events, visit www.innovationleader.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
About Sopheon
Sopheon partners with customers to provide complete Enterprise Innovation Performance solutions including patented software, expertise, and best practices to achieve exceptional long-term revenue growth and profitability. Sopheon’s Accolade solution provides unique, fully-integrated coverage for the entire innovation management and new product development lifecycle, including strategic innovation planning, roadmapping, idea and concept development, process and project management, portfolio management and resource planning. Sopheon’s solutions have been implemented by over 250 customers with more than 60,000 users in over 50 countries. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange. For more information about Sopheon visit www.sopheon.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Sopheon and Accolade are trademarks of Sopheon plc.
Contacts
Marina Askari, InnoLead
marina@innovationleader.com
Cheral Jansen, Sopheon
+1 952 851 7500
About InnoLead
InnoLead is a fast-growing media and events company with a laser focus on helping the world’s largest companies thrive for 100 years to come. Since 2013, InnoLead has built the largest community of corporate innovation, strategy, and R&D executives in both public and private companies, helping these executives to strengthen their innovation programs; connect with useful resources, solutions, and vendors; and engage with peers inside innovative labs and workplaces around the globe. For more information about InnoLead membership and events, visit www.innovationleader.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
For more information, please contact:
Marina Askari
marina@innovationleader.com
