{"id":25712,"date":"2022-08-31T18:10:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T18:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rightsdirect.com\/?post_type=blog_post&p=25712"},"modified":"2023-02-16T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T13:50:11","slug":"vernetzte-innovation","status":"publish","type":"blog_post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightsdirect.com\/de\/blog\/vernetzte-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vernetzte Innovation aufbauen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

F\u00fcr diejenigen, die in der schnelllebigen Lebensmittel- und Getr\u00e4nkeindustrie konkurrieren, egal ob sie Konsumg\u00fcter, landwirtschaftliche L\u00f6sungen oder Zutaten liefern, werden vielleicht feststellen: Es ist Zeit, mit der Erweiterung Ihres Innovations\u00f6kosystems zu beginnen. Die Erforschung vernetzter Innovationen kann Ihrem F&E-Team f\u00fcr Lebensmittel helfen, indem es auf zus\u00e4tzliche Partner- und Forschungsressourcen zugreift, um neue, bahnbrechende Ideen und L\u00f6sungen zu entwickeln.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Erfahren Sie mehr \u00fcber dieses Thema in dem nachfolgenden Blogpost.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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There are three major resources to consider when broadening your innovation ecosystem through networked innovation.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Internal Expertise<\/strong>: At smaller companies with limited resources, it may be obvious who the experts are. However, in larger organizations or organizations with high turnover or geographical dispersion, this can be more of a challenge. It can be especially hard to reference expertise from even just a few years ago. When we at CJB and Associates<\/a>, a boutique food and beverage innovation firm, are working with clients, we\u2019ll too often be referred to previous work only to find there is no written record or it is difficult to locate. The institutional memory of the organization is often too vague to be of specific help with poorly kept, or non-existent content archives. Nevertheless, internal expertise is the logical place to start.<\/li>
  2. External Partners<\/strong>: If all your R&D has been done in-house so far, it may be as simple as looking to existing partners for some additional development or technology from outside the company. Every company we\u2019ve worked with has some sort of network in place. Usually, it includes suppliers, a group of consultant experts, and possibly some universities and trade association groups. If a good solution can be found with an existing relationship it saves the time and risk of having to establish a new one. If you have exhausted your existing network of external partners, however, it may be time to expand that network to new research partners, including those in other fields, industries or geographies.<\/li>
  3. Scientific Research<\/strong>: Thorough research of academic and medical journals can identify additional blind spots and potential areas where networked partners can help. If you have access to trade publications and academic journals from other fields, don\u2019t rule anything out as a potential source of ideas and partners. You would be surprised at the breakthroughs that have come from complementary or even completely different industries. Most network partners will also have published papers and research interests that will clue you into whether they might be a good fit, or at least worth exploring.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Once you have decided to move forward with networked innovation and identified your expanded research and team of partners, where do you begin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Defining goals, objectives, and strategy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s a good idea to start by spelling out what networked innovation means to your company. At CJB and Associates, we spend a lot of time on the upfront part of a project, sorting through the available research, assembling the right team, conducting an in-depth review of the innovation priorities, and determining where and how networked innovation can help. While seemingly trivial, setting a solid idea for what qualifies as \u201csuccess\u201d is a vital first step in any innovation-oriented project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because we\u2019re focusing on the CPG world, any success criteria has to involve a benefit to the consumer. It could be better taste, a health benefit, a cost-benefit, or some combination. A tangible and measurable definition of success will make defining actionable objectives much easier. For example, if better taste is an objective, set a consumer test-win versus competition or an internal reference as success criteria. If health is an objective, you may need a clinical trial or at least very clear product nutritional guidance (e.g. no trans fat and less than 15% saturated fat; less than 100 calories per serving).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Building a cross-functional team<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Setting the strategy should be done cross-functionally and with strong management support and involvement. In the CPG world, you have to have engagement from the supply chain, marketing, sales, legal, R&D, and possibly HR if there is a cultural hurdle to overcome. The R&D function may talk about breakthrough technology. The legal team will want solid intellectual property (IP) protection and little risk of infringing on others\u2019 IP. The marketing team will think about a superior consumer proposition. Sales will want a great story to bring to customers and a cost basis they can work with. The supply chain will want to make sure the new technologies that emerge can be scaled up and planned for in their capacity and ingredient purchasing planning. Finally, senior management should be able to articulate expectations of what a successful increase in sales and profit would look like and over what timeframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Looking at non-conventional solutions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Keep an open mind toward non-conventional solutions to achieve your goal. We have found one of the hallmarks of successful networked innovation is when a solution comes from an unexpected source. For example, in a project that looked for a better way to refine healthy edible oils, we found a promising lead from a group working on fuel cell technologies. In this case, the fuel cell team was working with novel separation technologies that, as it turned out, could work for edible oils as well.\u00a0 In projects involving food ingredients, we have found many breakthrough solutions from the pharmaceuticals world. Pharmaceutical companies have spent years working on better drug delivery technologies. Many of those technologies are ideal for delivering flavors. The pharma groups are usually happy to find new applications for existing technologies and the food companies can take advantage of the years of development and safety testing without spending the many millions of dollars typical of a pharma R&D project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Role of Content Management in Networked Innovation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to the discovery process, content management will be equally important throughout the networked innovation project. Test results and research content will often be exchanged both internally and externally. This should be done in a way that minimizes duplication of effort and the risk of copyright infringement through unlicensed sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A major key to successfully building networked innovation is having the right content workflow and collaboration tools in place from the start to allow R&D teams to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n