Collaborative Ideation

prof.dr.ir. Han Gerrits

hoogleraar Vrije Universiteit

CEO Innovation Factory

@innovationfctry @hangerrits

Front End of Innovation

Innovation Leaders spend 3 to 4 times as much time and effort in the Front End than Innovation Followers

Innovation is a strategic imperative for many companies. The front end of innovation defines the difference

between leaders and followers: the more ideas, the stricter the selection of ideas, the more results.

What is an Idea Challenge?

How does an Idea Challenge work?

Example of a typical idea challenge process

Definition Preparation Run the Challenge Evaluation Close the Loop

Weeks 1-4 Weeks 5-10 Weeks 11-13

Project Preparation: • Definition workshop• Communication

Planning• Platform ready

Inno

vatio

n B

oard

Cor

e te

amC

halle

nge

team

Cro

wd

Communicate Results (Event)

Theme selection

Communicate for Participation

Create , share and enrich ideas

Monitor selection & concept development

Challenge Management Training

Challenge Management

Weekly progress meetings

Prepare Idea

selection

Innovation Board selects

ideas

Announce Idea

challenge

Idea Selection

Workshop/ Concept

development

Preparation Innovation

Board

Prerequisites for an Idea challenge:

Core team assembled

Real business issue to tackle

Higher manager actively involved

Communications and IT involved

Budget to bring best three ideas to reality

Typical Idea Challenge Questions

How can we save costs in our daily operations?

What should the next generation of this product look like?

How can we make our packaging more sustainable?

How will our organisation look like in 2020?

Our View on Collaborative Ideation

It’s not about just ideas...

Elaborate concepts instead of raw ideas

Interaction between participants creates more elaborate concepts that take into account all available

knowledge, expertise and implementation issues.

Advanced Idea Management

Basic Idea Management

Idea List

Suggestion program

Raw Ideas

Significant ROIacross range of

activities

Benefits Limitedto Cost Savings

and ‘Small Ideas’

Elaborate concepts

POWER IDEAS TOGETHER

Participation is key

CONNECT THE DOTS

Smart Social Software

ONE GLOBAL BRAIN

On Demand Knowledge

Examples of Our Results

Vodafone

On average 1 innovation implemented per week

Heineken

Innovation rate (revenue share of products < 3 years) has grown faster than expected and a positive impact on employee engagement

Deltaplan IJsselmeer 2050

Employees of a large number of organizations got connected and created a large knowledge base in a matter of weeks

Pon

Higher employee engagement and a sense of belonging to the same company worldwide.

Thank you.Questions?

han.gerrits@innovationfactory.eu

Have an innovative evening

www.innovationfactory.eu