One of the puzzles of modern business strategy is how to pursue innovation effectively.
While it has been often noted by us, corporate venturing has been on the rise, with a circa 30% increase in corporate venturing units since 2010, to just under 1000 globally – how this significant interest is tied into overall strategies has not been picked apart enough.
So it was with interest that I came across a May report analysing practices of large firms pursuing open innovation by Henry Chesbrough, of the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and Sabine Brunswicker, of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, Fraunhofer Society, which they bill as the first large scale investigation of open innovation practices.
The study, found that open innovation is practiced more widely, with 82% of those respondents to the report saying they practice open innovation more intensively than they did in the past.
Yet perhaps of most interest to our readership, the report’s ranking of outbound practices found that corporate business incubation and venturing is the area which is growing most in importance for these corporations. Chalk that up as another data point indicating a surge towards corporate venturing.
Heidi Mason, managing partner of US-based consultancy firm Bell Mason Group, which is part of the Corporate Venturing and Innovation Initiative, of which Global Corporate Venturing is also a member, said: “This Open Innovation survey reconfirms that corporations are recognising the need, and often the urgency, to integrate external innovation and corporate venturing in their corporate strategies and portfolios for growth. The spotlight is now on implementation – much is at stake and the race is on.”
Mason added: “In order to put the concept of Open Innovation to work in present day environments and effectively develop a Corporate Venturing and Innovation portfolio, companies must hone new kinds of ‘innovation partnering’ skills and collaboration know-how.”
The intersection of open innovation and corporate venturing is one of great fascination for our editorial team. Do keep us posted with examples of how you are attempting to do this effectively.