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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Collaborative Idea Management Systems are mini experiments looking into human behaviors that result in out of the box thinking. They’re not just electronic suggestion boxes.

When you get a bunch of smart people posting ideas and then invite others to comment, you invite chaos and disruption. If you’re lucky, the serendipitous discovery of great (breakthrough, revenue producing, cost saving) ideas pop up. 

Collaborative Ideation is a little like the show Survivor: When you log into the dialog about ideas you get to see who prospers, who gets double crossed, and who gets voted off the island.

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By Ron shulkin

Connect and Develop is the new black (R&D alone costs more, is slower and is sooo last year).

There is a blessing to the new world of collaborative innovation. Instead of spending heaps of money on research to get new products or the solution to problems and obstacles, industry has the ability to use Web 2.0 technologies to connect with those who have the answers. Just by asking every smart person in the company, the ability to connect to an answer is enabled. Or by asking the rest of the world (e.g. “open innovation”) months or years of research time can be short circuited and new products can be fast-tracked into development.

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By Ron shulkin

This blog entry is about why it is important to collaborate across your company’s disciplines and divisions while having the support and encouragement of your management. The topic is innovation, why it is important for everyone to come up with new ideas to keep any given company’s product offerings fresh, new and cutting edge. And how great ideas are the result of a collaboration of diverse people.

It doesn’t do anyone any good to “preach to the choir”. In my little group, I’m sure we all agree our ideas and our way of doing things are just great. After all, we all have similar backgrounds, work on the same topics and produce similar results. But to be successful, you need your ideas to get “viral” and leave your immediate sphere.

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By Ron Shulkin

With the new patent law, now more than ever you need an automated collaborative system for ideas.

The new patent reform law has many ramifications and I want to look at one of them. At its essence the “America Invents Act” has one critical attribute: Instead of awarding patents to those with “first to invent” status, it is based on “first to file” for their patent. Just like Ken Jennings vs. the IBM computer on Jeopardy, the computer can hit the button faster than is humanly possible.

It’s true the America Invents Act purports to shave time off the patent approval, juggling 750,000 patent applications with a 4% increase in filings, from the current three year wait to a guaranteed 12 month turnaround. But the new law will likely force inventors to build a patent portfolio rather than relying on a single patent. Ergo the patent lawyers will have to file several times to keep first-filing status at each stage of enablement of a company’s good idea.

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By Peter Verschuere

At CogniStreamer we strongly believe in innovation through collaboration. Our core values are the paradigm of open innovation and the principle of "the wisdom of crowds." Last week I ran into this video clip where Derek Powazek explains the 4 elements that create wise crowds: Diversity, Independance, Decentralization and Aggregation. Because these four items are a perfect match with our CogniStreamer view on crowdsourcing, I couldn't resist to share this clip with you.

Derek Powazek helps companies develop strategies to engage their audience, enable user-created content systems that actually create great experiences, and generally avoid the problems that so often strike when companies meet communities. He's the author of "Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in virtual Places".

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