By Ian Smith

There are as many definitions of innovation as there are books, blogs & experts! The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines innovation as ‘bringing in novelties, making changes in…’ while Webster’s Dictionary defines it as ‘making changes by bringing in something new’. The definition that I like the most, at least for the corporate world, happens to be the simplest… ’Innovation is profiting from change’.

Whatever definition you prefer there is no doubt that change is THE driver of innovation… so what about change?

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By Ron Shulkin

I might subtitle this: Doing something about Innovation is in the news.

If you’ll pardon the co-opting of the title to suit my purposes, let me just simply say there has been a flurry of surveys and thinkers getting on board a message I’ve been pushing for quite a while.  It has three parts:

1. Companies must embrace Innovation.
2. Organizations need to pay it more than just lip service, they have to take action.
3. There are two parts to the action: Provide a framework for collaboration and encourage everyone to use it.

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By Ron Shulkin

There is a hunger for breaking the innovation code

Recently our partner Cloverleaf, a group of talented innovation consultants, and my company, CogniStreamer, put on a webinar. We all learned many things. Perhaps the most striking thing anyone attending learned was seeing just how many people registered and attended. The numbers were higher than any on line event I’ve been part of. Over 130 people registered and 59 people attended (and of those 59, 55 stayed until the end with the other four dropping during the Q&A session at the end).

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By Ian Smith

‘Yes’, there’s broad consensus that a holistic approach (incorporating Direction/Intent, Execution/Delivery, Collaboration/KM & People/Organization) is the best way to innovate, and ‘No’, there’s broad agreement that there is no one way to drive innovation (bottom up, top down, a mixture etc – it all depends on the company) but one interesting question remains….can every company innovate successfully? Is Innovation based on ‘Nature’ or ‘Nurture’?

Essentially, is an enterprises ability to innovate based on innate or inherited qualities (i.e. is it fixed) or is it based on various experiences and influences (i.e. can it be changed or learnt)?

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By Ron Shulkin

When your company embraces innovation it will also cut costs, your quality will improve, and it will be a safer work environment.

One Keystone Decision (like embracing innovation as a corporate mandate) can effect every other part of your organization. A commitment to Innovation can turn into all sorts of successes everywhere. That Keystone for Innovation is held up by all your other efforts, while providing stability for the corporate structure at the same time.

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By Wim Soens

Recently our VP of sales turned to me and asked, “In fact, Wim, why don’t we have prediction markets? It seems like a neat feature, and our prospects often inquire about it. Any particular reason why this isn’t on our development roadmap?”

There are several reasons, actually. And different ways to answer this interesting question.

1. The Business Answer

Prediction markets are hyped by smart marketing. That might sound like a bold statement, but the fact is that ideation tools with prediction markets are a pretty easy sell to senior executives.  

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By Ron Shulkin

Here’s a scenario worth thinking about. Let’s say you deploy your internal social network. And it’s a huge success. Everyone is posting information. You ask for ideas and you get them. But now you’re faced with a dilemma….How do you pull all that information together? How do you surface the best ideas?

The problem is too much information. Just the opposite of where you started. You have too many ideas to manually sift through all of them. Many of them are similar but you wonder how you’re going to match those similar ideas together.

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By Ian Smith

In a recent New York Times article by Steve Lohr (The Ying & the Yang of Corporate Innovation, published Jan 26th 2012) he quotes Paul Saffo as saying “there is nothing democratic about innovation. It’s always been an elite activity, whether by a recognized or unrecognized elite”. While this may or may not be the case, and while this may or may not be a sensitive subject in a US election year, what is definitely changing is the make up of that elite.

In the (corporate) past this elite, in the context of innovation, may have been defined by role, intelligence, specific expertise, proximity, relationships, control of funds…or even privilege. Technology, however, has ensured that anyone, in effect, can now be part of that elite…anyone that is who has access to the internet, is keen & enthusiastic and has an idea or opinion along with a perspective on the particular subject.

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By Ron Shulkin

Maybe this rings a bell for you: You want to launch an innovation program at your company but you can’t get any support.

I talk all day to people who are interested in innovation. They know in their hearts that embracing innovation is the only way their organizations will flourish. They know the only way their company can compete in the difficult economic climate we face is to adopt an innovative approach. These people I talk to fall in love with the idea of collaborative ideation; assembling all of their smart people while they share ideas and other information of interest. They yearn to allow their cohort to find others within the company who are like minded; with common areas of interest.

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By Peter Verschuere

I’ve always been determined not to lose my creative side, because it's my belief that innovation cannot persist without creativity. If you loose your creativity, you stop to be innovative.

Yesterday I've been watching Josh Linkner's keynote on creativity, and I'd like to share it with you because it induces positive vibes and contains some strong and valuable messages:

• Never cave to your detractors.
• Sometimes you have to let go in order to seize greatness.
• Aim for the future.
• Pursue the unconventional path.
• Put passion first! (the money will follow).

Josh Linkner is the New York Times Bestselling author of "Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity".
Josh is the CEO and Managing Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Together with business partners Earvin "Magic" Johnson and NBA team owner Dan Gilbert, Josh is actively rebuilding urban areas through technology and entrepreneurship. Josh is also Adjunct Professor of Applied Creativity at the University of Michigan.

But most importantly, Josh is on a mission to make the world more creative.

Peter Verschuere is Social Media Director at CogniStreamer®, an Open Innovation Management System. Learn more about CogniStreamer®, follow our tweets or join us on Facebook.