Innovation Partnership (IP) is the new IP!

Today in an increasingly competitive and globalized world, any business with a desire for long term steady growth constantly needs to improve its innovation culture and processes. Running a successful innovation ecosystem, however, demands more. Successful innovation ecosystems make people outside the company measurably smarter, richer, and more innovative. Biologically speaking, innovation ecosystems invest in symbiosis, not parasitism. Growth isn’t zero-sum! Several industry leaders like Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Mark Zuckerberg, Reed Hastings, Marissa Mayer, and Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin similarly grasp the strategic, operational, and cultural distinction. They’re leaders and entrepreneurs representing organizations who are publicly committed to creating better ecosystems, not just better products, services or customer experience. While successful innovators reap new profits from new products and services, successful innovation ecosystems cultivate profitability by encouraging others to create valuable new offerings. Their financial futures depend on how innovative they make their customers, clients, channels, and partners. Truly effective ecosystems manage to turn outsiders into de facto collaborators. Enabling external innovation becomes as important as improving one’s own. In fact, successful innovation ecosystems create virtuous cycles of external creativity, which drives internal adaptation. In turn, internal innovation enables and inspires external investment. Ecosystem innovators are constantly asking, “Who are we making richer? Who are we making more innovative? Who’s on both those lists?” The answers say everything about the future they’re trying to create. Flipboard cofounder and CEO Mike McCue’s recently explained how they empowered their users to create their own “virtual magazines” which redefined the reader experience. He stated that over 7 million magazines were created by their customers within 10 months since the company was launched. These customers are now creating virtual magazines, not just reading them. And Flipboard is learning and adapting thanks to their expressive ingenuity. This is the new IP — not conventional “Intellectual Property” but “Innovation Partnerships.” Look at Amazon Web Services, GitHub, Toyota and YouTube’s investments in suppliers, and Apple’s App Store. Innovation ecosystems or open innovation consortiums like Procter & Gamble (P&G), believe that the best ideas can come from anywhere, and, therefore, make a conscious effort to open their innovation pipelines to a much wider set of sources. About a decade ago, the then P&G Chief Executive officer (CEO) A.G. Lafley set a target of more than half of P&G’s ideas coming from outside the company, and that became a reality after few years later Indian organisations are also benefiting from adopting an open innovation philosophy. At the strategic and system integration level, both Tata Motors and Mahindra have demonstrated its utility. Some Indian companies like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tube Products of India (TPI) have joined international consortia to keep track of the latest research trends. For example, TPI has joined a US-based steel processing consortium, ASPPRC, since the last decade. ASPPRC has close links with the Colorado School of Mines. Membership of this consortium has helped TPI learn about processing steel in a more comprehensive manner. Leading global steel makers and automobile companies are a part of this consortium, and this helps TPI get a clear product perspective. While research consortia in India are in their infancy, pioneering programmes like the Government of India’s Collaborative Auto Research Programme (CAR) have brought companies like Tata Motors, M&M and TVS, and institutions like IIT Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science on the same platform. Membership of such consortia is not a substitute for internal R&D, but provides a listening post, helps assess emerging trends, and provides access to pre-competitive research inputs. The importance of India as a market, and the competitiveness of Indian companies However, dramatically boosting an innovation ecosystem isn’t inherently expensive; a new API, a simulation tool, a training methodology, or slightly greater access to customer data are frequently all that’s necessary to seed mutual growth opportunities. But just as management isn’t leadership, innovation process improvement isn’t innovation ecosystem stewardship. Fostering an innovation ecosystem does require a culture and competence of stewardship — making the kinds of investments and improvements that aren’t just opportunistic, but reflect and respect the core values you want to endure. Today, where service industry is being rapidly commoditized, (often invoking self-destructing price wars) merely delivering 'what-you-are-told-to-do' within scheduled timelines is considered a hygiene factor. Our clients need multidirectional support in problem solving. Vendors/partners/customers are best positioned to do this. We are committed to make our innovation journey soon transform into a thriving value creation ecosystem making participatory innovation; beyond organizational boundaries, a huge success. In the near future, we envision a world where innovation ecosystems will triumph over innovative companies if and when the benefits of mutual value creation outweigh the costs.