“ONLINE COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION

NETWORKS”
Håkan Ozan, CSC

June 2009
”ONLINE COLLABORATION AND
INNOVATION NETWORKS”
Håkan Ozan, CSC

June 2009

In this article we discuss how online innovation networks

help support outside thinking and how this changes the
approach to innovation.

Online collaboration helps dissolve the “efficiency trap”.

Innovation traditionally concerns to find interchangeable solutions to

coming up with new ideas and in-context problems due to their
creating new things. The ability to similar frames of reference. In
think in new ways to solve order to avoid “vertical thinking”
problems is dependent on the and stimulate innovation, we are
context in which the present traditionally exposed to various
problem appears. According to methods to stimulate creativity.
creativity researchers like Edward These are generally intended to
De Bono the brain is an extremely help people on the “inside” to think
efficient problem solving unit, but out of the box, that is - outside of
unfortunately this their terms of reference.
efficiency inhibits “In an online With online collaboration
creativity and thus environment, possibilities arising,
innovation. networks of external
your “outside”
users may be assembled
The deficiency in may be their to represent the outside
creativity appears “inside”.” in more accurate ways
due to the human than we can do ourselves.
brain’s learning pattern. If we have
previously solved a problem in a In an online environment, your
successful way, the human mind “outside” may be their “inside”. An
will recognize the pattern of the
situation in which it was solved and example of this force in action is
thus quickly be able to apply the the open innovation marketplace
same solution to new situations as InnoCentive. Lakhani (2006) studied
they appear. The ability to reuse 166 problems that were submitted
implicit knowledge is a human to InnoCentive, neither of which
necessity which helps us thrive and could be solved by the corporate
survive, but it is at the same time
research departments, and found
an obstacle for creative thinking
and innovation. that as many as 30% of the
problems were rapidly provided
Users that operate in the same with a satisfactory solution.
environment and context are likely
”ONLINE COLLABORATION AND
INNOVATION NETWORKS”
Håkan Ozan, CSC

June 2009

The most fascinating finding was number of people required for such
that the average time spent on a network would have been much
developing the winning innovative too time-consuming and expensive
solution was 74 (!) hours, compared to pursue, but with new technology
to 6 to 24 months spent by the and new collaboration models the
companies’ internal research teams. cost is negligible compared to the
Lakhani’s conclusion was simple; gains received. With decent
innovators reused previous communication skills, a little
solutions. They recognized the new market knowledge, a few web tools
problem’s pattern and applied a and some good management
similar solution to the same (or practices your company may
similar) problem, only in a different relatively easy build its own
context. Lakhani’s conclusion was network of innovators - from which
also that since the solution was it may profit immensely. As written
found outside the originating in Swarm Creativity by Peter Gloor:
corporation’s area of
expertise, they were also
very unlikely to have found “There are some basic differences between
the solution on their own, the pre-Internet innovation networks and the
Internet-enabled collaborative innovation
other than by chance. As
networks of today. Members of innovation
professor Frank Piller of networks of the pre-Internet age had a
Aachen University states - fundamentally different attitude toward
pioneer companies have authority, transparency, and meritocracy.
started to spend less effort But the biggest difference is the existence of
on solution-seeking and the Internet, which gives today’s community
more effort on problem- members immediate global reach at very low
broadcasting, hence cost; it allows teams to collaborate at a level
improving cost-efficiency in of transparency never before possible.”
the innovation process.

The major insight is simply that Online participation involving

having a large number of creative,
out-of-context collaborators analyze
your problem(s) from new angles
and with new perspectives will
increase creative diversity and thus
improve innovation results.
Previously, gathering the minimum
diverse target groups improves
both the variety of perspectives and
overall communication. This in turn
leads to a higher idea improvement
pace and faster delivery times of
new innovations. Financial gains
are but a mouse-click away.
 “ONLINE COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION
NETWORKS”
Håkan Ozan, CSC
Håkan Ozan is a strategic management consultant at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
who is specialized in IT strategy and innovation management. He is the Innovation Manager of
CSC Sweden and has an M.Sc in Computer Science and a B.Sc. in Economics. He has been
working with, and researching, practical open innovation for several years and is currently
the project manager of the Airport Living Lab at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and the project
manager of the Open Innovation Frameworks research project.

Further reading

De Bono, E. (1993). Serious Creativity: Using The Power of Lateral Thinking to Create
New Ideas. HarperBusiness.

Gloor, P. A., (2005). Swarm Creativity - Competitive Advantage through Collaborative

Innovation Networks. Oxford University Press.

Lakhani, K.R., (2006). The core and the periphery in distributed and self-organizing
innovation systems. Doctoral dissertation, Sloan School of Management.

Open Innovation
From the Open Innovation Forum’s perspective open innovation involves all aspects
of creating new business opportunities by engaging end-users in co-creative
activities. Web 2.0 technologies has caused electronic collaboration to evolve, hence
paving the way for companies to invite customers and employees to be involved in
the refinement of their offerings. Ideally open innovation will create win-win
situations where users get services that are more oriented to their needs and
organizations will offer services that are more desired by the market.

The Open Innovation Forum

The Open Innovation Forum aims at being a knowledge hub and rallying point for
user-oriented open innovation, where innovation experts and researchers can
collaborate on improving theories and practices, while open innovation novices are
invited to follow, or take active part, in the development of the area.

www.openinnovationforum.com
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