Open innovatie, the future of consumer based innovation

The key aspect of the future innovation process is cross-domain and inter-company co-creation. This will become essential to the future of every organisation. Forrester, a research company, even states:

there is an increasingly compelling need for businesses to share insights and different perspectives on new technologies, to cope with rapid changes in customer demand and to reduce failures.

The key elements for the revolution are openness, equality, continues, multidisciplinary and above all inter-company. In this new world where everything is connected and “intelligent”, open communication is the standard. A standard that enforces interaction and sends old mass communication back to the dark ages.:-) In this new model, the “recipient” (customer) is leading. For innovation, this means that the end-user gets a clear and leading voice when contemplating and developing new products or services. The company is forced to open up and be influenced from inside out.

This new revolution in innovation goes under the name of Open Innovation. This new innovation goes beyond interviewing customers on the street or using test panels to get to know the customer and his need. It's more than setting up a call-centre or a on-line survey. Open Innovation is a continuous process of interaction with customers. It's creates a protective environment where customers and employees can exchange ideas about products and services, both new, emerging and existing ones.

Open Innovation is the next step in our society, away from push, control and command towards truly addressing customer needs.