The beginning of a new month brings a new edition of the Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing carnival. Just like last month, the carnival provides an overview of interesting articles on topics related to open innovation and crowdsourcing.

• The New Values of the 21st Century Citizen takes a broader view on how the values of people are changing in reaction to new challenges as well as opportunities. Especially the focus on collaboration, is interesting. The article isn’t directly related to crowdsourcing, but it outlines the importance of wikinomics in the context of a rapidly changing society.
• In Tyrannis Populi the key question is Who are “the people” anyway and who says they’re always right? Along with recognising and encouraging the contribution of the crowd to new developments in the world, the article reminds us it is imperative to recognise the dangers so that we can make the best use of this abundant resource. An interesting read.
• Trust Networks vs Search Engines: According the article, crowd sourcing works on the same core principles as social trust, and that trust network has the potential to unseat the supremacy of search engines.
• Open Innovation meets Web 2.0: Talks about Fellowforce and Spigit, and whether there’s a viable business model in facilitating open innovation. “Open innovation meets web 2.0″ isn’t entirely correct with respect to Fellowforce though: on the fellowforce platform possibilities to collaborate on posted challenges aren’t available (yet).
• Philips builds Open Innovation Campus in Shanghai: a good example of how to open up to high-tech start-ups, fostering collaboration and open innovation.

This concludes the second edition of the carnival. Thanks to all writers for submitting, and please share your comments below.

Next edition

As of now you can submit your blog article(s) to the next edition of Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing! Use the carnival submission form, or send us the link to your article(s) through carnival@openinnovators.net.

Subject of Edition 3: Government 2.0.
Release date: October 1, 2007

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In 2005, Philips started building a One Philips Innovation Campus in Shanghai, annually investing about 40 million euro. Philips’ aim is double. First, they want to increase efficiency and internal collaboration by bringing different R&D centers together on one campus. Second, they want to open up the campus to external parties, facilitating R&D cooperation and open innovation. So actually, the success formula of their campus in Eindhoven, the High-Tech Campus Eindhoven, is being copied to Shanghai, China. Since the High-Tech Campus Eindhoven (HTCE) was opened in 1999, it has been one of the key elements in Philips’ adoption of the philosophy of ‘open innovation’.

Why and how? Built on the site of Philips Research in Eindhoven, HTCE houses over 40 (external) technology-based companies and institutes employing several thousand people in developing ground-breaking technologies and products through the open innovation model. Philips tries to create an environment and structures which promote interactions, networking and knowledge-sharing, leading to joint projects and joint ventures among the HTCE companies. For Philips this means that the company can spin in ideas and innovations from outside, enriching the services it can offer Philips’ business divisions. It can also spin out technologies from its own extensive IPR portfolio to high-tech companies in the HTCE, which can bring innovations to market more quickly. For the companies on the campus, networking and co-operation on ideas is reinforced by shared facilities and technology - for example, through the MiPlaza, a microsystems and nanotechnology facility including a world-class ‘clean room’ with laboratory and materials-analysis services. In most cases, start-ups can make free use of those facilities.

This case clearly shows how companies can create a stimulating environment for cooperation and open innovation. It also underlines that open innovation is much broader than opening up to lead users or crowds alone, in contrast with what is being writen sometimes. Henry Chesbrough’s first book on open innovation - Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology - hardly even mentionned users or crowds. The main focus was (and still is) on working together with suppliers, research institutes, universities, and other companies. Therefore, the Open Campus idea perfectly embodies what open innovation orginally was about.

Tapping into the minds and ideas of crowds to source knowledge on trends and future developments is an important aspect of crowdsourcing, an aspect which we call sensing. How can one effectivily sense new demands and opportunities?

Philips for example, has launched two sensing platforms: Lead Users and Live Simplicity. Philips is a dutch multinational, offering technology products for lifestyle and healthcare sectors. On Leadusers.nl (dutch website) they conducted studies with lead users on specific topics, like video technology and sleep quality. The initiative was thus aimed at gaining knowledge on the specific subjects as well as sensing new product demands and opportunities.

The new Live Simplicity website is partly a marketing instrument to promote Philips’ Sense and Simplicity slogan, but definititely also a tool to acquire knowledge on what people think in Philips-relevant areas of life. The sensing platform facilitates discussions in 6 areas (Business, Communication, General, Internet & Technology, Lifestyle & Social, and Wellness). Each discussion starts with a short description and two contrasting viewpoints (A and B). Visitors are invited either to vote for a viewpoint, or register as contributor and write a comment. The initiators also thought of incentives for contributors and have set up a rating/reward system. Each contributer has a rating, shown as an icon. This is calculated based on how many times that contributer has made a point and had others agree or disagree with it. Each posting has an agree/disagree button next to it, and the combined results of these are displayed in the Rating. So contributors can develop themselves as respected members of the site. It must be said, although one may expect otherwise, the reactions and opinions on the platform are indeed of high quality. In addition, high-rating contributers are often selected to contribute to certain discussions. Philips has also developed a visual tracker, which enables contributors to track their favorite topics from their desktop.

As one of the leading companies with respect to Open Innovation in general, Philips now provides a leading example of how a large multinational can sense new ideas and preferences from lead users (leadusers.nl) and large crowds (livesimplicity.net). One to start and expand in other B2C industries.