By Nicolas Étienne, Mechanical engineer and innovation passionate
The second day of QSS was held a workshop dedicated to people interested in better understanding the mechanism, logistic and planning required in organizing a similar event at a regional level or at a private company level.
We started sharing basic topics such as the limitations of closed innovation compared to the benefits of open innovation. Based on many innovation references (H. Chesbrough, D. Pink, T. Edison, L. Heward, S. Thomke, F. Piller, 3M, Apple, Honda, IBM) as well as professional experiences in a multinational company and in a research center - we extracted and summarized four key winning conditions for operational deployment success: upper management commitment; internal innovation culture promotion; organizational innovation structure; and intellectual property aspects.
In addition to organizational aspects, the collective intelligence of motivated persons is one of the most important winning conditions. Then it is just matters of easing experimentations, flexibility and rapid incorporation of innovation in the product line.
As a quick reference guide, we provided a mind map report to participants, including advises and typical traps such as: open mind-set, avoid over-organization, understanding the difference between managing innovation and managing FOR innovation, leave anyone participate, eliminate hierarchical levels and communicate top level strategy ! Delegates from the Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MDEIE) of Quebec government were attending the workshop, having in mind to export this conference in other regions. MDEIE seeks to support economic development, innovation and export trade, as well as research, particularly by encouraging coordinated and concerted actions among the various players in the economic, scientific, social and cultural areas.
The question is: Can we replicate this success story elsewhere, with other local people? We strongly believe that this is possible so if you are interested do not hesitate to contact us!
