Part II of the lessons learned  from the TopCoder Customer Round Table – you can enjoy Part I here

 

 

When we hear the term 4-Letter word, our minds tend to trend toward the “gutter” of our personal vernacular. Even the most PG of 4-letter thoughts might have you playing back Bill Cosby’s genius, alone on stage against a simplistic red-screen as he uttered the “Flin, Flarn Filth”. But, what is the only real 4-letter word when it comes to innovation? What do you think? Is it fear? Is it fail? Or is it something different?

You may or perhaps not yet have heard that TopCoder is officially unveiling a new way forward in innovation and productivity dubbed EOI standing for Enterprise Open Innovation. The below is from the official press release, which is linked here, enjoy this small snippet:

“Underlying EOI is the concept of broadcast search that connects domain experts and idea generators through collaborative platforms that feature new approaches to solve complex business and social challenges that would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve traditionally.”

The announcement will take place during the MIX MashUp on June 19th out in San Francisco, CA and will be delivered by TopCoder founder and chairman, Jack Hughes. MIX stands for Management Innovation Exchange, an open innovation project that is aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. The premise: while “modern” management is one of humankind’s most important inventions, it is now a mature technology that must be reinvented for a new age.

Much like the description above, Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing have proven to be extraordinarily powerful ways to create brilliant assets for scores of industries and sectors. However, the ability to continuously scale and manage Open Innovation competitions and challenges, to truly embed the fabric of Open Innovation into the existing entity, the enterprise, has been itself a challenge. As we’ve discussed previously on the TopCoder Blog, individuals within the enterprise can be quite hesitant to embrace Open Innovation. Perhaps they feel threatened, perhaps it’s just new, and therefore change is resisted. Undoubtedly, there can be scores of reasons for an individual or small group within an enterprise to not fully embrace Open Innovation practices. However, global enterprises continue to foster and join communities and begin experimentation on top of competitive & collaborative platforms. Why?

The 4-Letter Word of Innovation is … ?

Leaders in business and government alike are realizing a logical conclusion.

1. The pace of technology, which drives innovation is seemingly exponential
2. To continuously innovate in this hyper-paced environment, the enterprise (or agency) must find ways to “take more swings”
3. The traditional methods of innovation are incapable of producing “more swings” in a way that is cost effective and time efficient while ensuring the right talent is sourced for the tasks at hand

When you take more swings, you are taking more chances. The rewards can be grand but you must be willing to embrace this 4-letter word… You must find a way to take on more risk. For those lucky enough to be attending the MIX MashUp later this month, you will hear first hand how EOI enables much more risk taking, while generating extreme value outcomes through open, collaborative and competitive means.

It’s a new day in innovation and productivity. How will EOI change how you, your team, your enterprise continuously innovates? We’re a few short days away from the unveiling.

For those wanting more on Open Innovation today – June 12th, 2012 – there is an amazing event being live-streamed from Washington D.C. featuring speakers from GE, NASA, Harvard Business School, the Department of Veterans Affairs and more canvassing the topic of collaborative innovation and utilizing prizes to ignite the innovative passions of the public sector – You can enjoy the content here - http://www.casefoundation.org/collaborative-innovation