Innovation Management - Creating value with innovation management.

Many firms discover in their search for unknown co-innovators that in different countries potential innovation partners react differently when they are approached by an Open Innovator. Frank Mattes looks at a recent study that may help shine light on the issue.

The skin care market is an interesting business to be in. Every single person on our planet is a potential customer and yet it takes a good deal of focus and expertise in every corporate function to become globally the number one. This is what Beiersdorf, the Hamburg (Germany) based champion in the skin care business has achieved with its Nivea brand. Innovation is a key ingredient in the success formula. InnovationManagement caught up with Martin Rudolph from Beiersdorf and discussed about innovation and in particular about the Open Innovation approaches Beiersdorf is taking.

Transforming your firm in R&D innovation approach from a closed to an open one promises huge benefits. Increased agility and effectiveness, lowered risk and revenue growth through new products are some of them. In this In-Depth Article Frank Mattes shows how a firm can find the best approach to R&D-driven Open Innovation (Outside-in) based on the insights from a number of projects in this space.

InnovationManagement.se was invited to participate in an innovation lab conducted by the Chair of Technology and Innovation Management (TIM), School of Business and Economics of the RWTH Aachen University. Read more to find out about their recent studies and key points from professor Frank Piller, globally acknowledged expert on user innovation and Open Innovation, mass customization and continuous/incremental vs discontinuous/radical innovation.

This article discusses which software might be best suited to different Open Innovation (OI) approaches. The subject is of particular interest since, on the one hand there are more and more companies that are embracing OI, and on the other, there are multiple software solutions available in the market that have proven productive.

InnovationManagement recently spoke to Dr Thomas Weber, Managing Director of BASF’s Future Business, about what it takes for a large company to maintain a constant flow of innovation ideas and a spirit of enthusiasm to feed the pipeline.

On 30 April, 2010, around 50 participants attended the Mannheim Innovation Symposium at the prestigious ZEW Centre for European Economical Research. One of ZEW’s responsibilities is to compile the official innovation statistics for Germany, for the German government. Read more in this report from Frank Mattes, our German editor.