How can open innovation and collaboration with external partners drive product innovation?

Open innovation (OI) is creating innovation by collaboration beyond the borders of your organisation. You can see it as innovation (change that brings value) on steriods: it can help you reach further, get more ideas, knowledge & results faster (inbound OI) or it can help you realise value through spin offs/outs (outbound OI). Especially in the internet age the power of strong Win-Win collaboration can prove to be crucial to get results fast, contrary to the African proverb that assumes that going together slows you down. If the collaboration is created in win win style instead of compromise, the open innovation becomes win-win innovation (or winwinnovation in short) and all partners achieve their goals.

Open innovation and collaboration with external partners drive product innovation by: 1. Providing access to diverse expertise and perspectives. 2. Sharing resources, technologies, and infrastructure. 3. Facilitating access to new markets and customer segments. 4. Mitigating financial risks and reducing costs. 5. Promoting cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. 6. Accessing cutting-edge technologies and research findings. 7. Enabling co-creation and co-innovation with stakeholders. 8. Offering flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions and trends.

Win-Win collaboration not just provides insights for product developers, it also can bring value the contributors in terms of non-pecuniary aspect such as insights, overviews or new knowledge. If constructed correctly, open innovation has the potential to provide value to all partners, in all directions. If constructed badly you risk that the collaboration is perceived as "being used" which can end up in a bad reputation or a one-off collaboration.

The statement is very "I get info" driven". The open innovation and collaboration can also be used to deliver early info to early adopters. In doing so they can become ambassadors paving the way for an easier adoption during commercialisation phase of the new product, feature or service.

Customers seldom buy what you are selling: you sell a product (or experience, or service) and they buy a way to make progress. This progress is toward a goal or a BHAG. Typically, customers reach their goals by acquiring many different offerings. It is unlikely that by buying your offering alone that they will achieve their objectives. That is why in open innovation or by collaborating in say, an ecosystem of sorts, you need to consider how your offering enhances or interferes with the other products a customer buys. And remember: your direct customer may not be the end customer. Yet, you should start your innovation process with the customer of your customer in mind.