Consulting for Corporations: The Importance of Open Innovation

In today’s fast-changing and competitive business environment, corporations need to constantly innovate and adapt to new challenges and opportunities. However, innovation is not something that can be done in isolation. It requires collaboration and interaction with various external partners, such as customers, suppliers, competitors, universities, startups, and other organizations. This is what open innovation is all about: a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology.

• Loss of control and intellectual property rights
• Coordination and communication difficulties
• Cultural and organizational barriers
• Potential conflicts of interest and trust issues
• Alignment of goals and incentives

Therefore, corporations need to carefully design and implement their open innovation strategies, taking into account the specific context and objectives of each project. They also need to seek the help of external experts and consultants who can provide guidance, support, and facilitation for their open innovation initiatives. Consulting for corporations can play a vital role in enabling and enhancing open innovation, by offering services such as:

• Scouting and screening potential partners and opportunities
• Negotiating and managing contracts and agreements
• Providing technical and legal advice and assistance
• Developing and implementing innovation platforms and tools
• Monitoring and evaluating innovation outcomes and impacts
• Training and coaching innovation teams and leaders

There are many examples of successful cases of technology implementation through open innovation, involving corporations and their external partners. Here are some of them:

• Siemens and its Additive Manufacturing Network: Siemens, a global leader in industrial engineering and technology, opened up its Additive Manufacturing Network, a cloud-based platform that connects engineers and designers with 3D printing service providers, to anyone who needs help in medical device design during the Covid-19 crisis. This enabled faster and more efficient production and distribution of critical medical equipment, such as ventilators, masks, and face shields1.
• Scania and the Karolinska University Hospital: Scania, a Swedish manufacturer of heavy trucks and buses, partnered with the Karolinska University Hospital, one of the largest and most prestigious medical centers in Europe, to address the shortage of testing facilities for Covid-19. Scania converted some of its trailers into mobile testing stations, equipped with advanced technology and safety features, and also directed some of its highly skilled purchasing and logistics experts to locate, acquire, and deliver personal protective equipment to health care workers1.
• Ford, GE Healthcare, 3M, and the United Auto Workers: Ford, one of the largest automakers in the world, collaborated with GE Healthcare, a leading provider of medical devices and services, 3M, a multinational conglomerate that produces a variety of products, and the United Auto Workers, a labor union representing workers in the automotive industry, to build ventilators in Michigan using F-150 seat fans, portable battery packs, and 3D printed parts. The project leveraged the complementary capabilities and resources of each partner, and resulted in the production of thousands of ventilators in a short period of time1.

These cases illustrate how consulting for corporations can facilitate and foster open innovation, and how open innovation can lead to successful technology implementation, especially in times of crisis. Open innovation is not only a necessity, but also an opportunity for corporations to create value and make a positive impact on society.

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