“Organisations call out for more open innovation to stimulate sustainability” was one of the messages during the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last week. Well, we couldn’t agree more.
During the forum, 10 leading companies among which Nike, Creative Commons and Best Buy announced the launch of Green XChange, a new collaborative project that can change the rules of the game. It’s a platform allowing companies to share their knowledge (IP), co-create and accelerate the development of innovative solutions for sustainability issues.
As we also believe in accelerating the innovation process through co-creation and believe in the value of co-creation for sustainable innovation, Fronteer Strategy and Green Inc have combined strengths and developed Rooftop Garden. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I visited the ‘Nationaal Sutainability Congres’ in The Hague. The largest sustainability event in our country where around 700 people came together to discuss, to learn and to inspire. A bit more of the first than the latter perhaps, but it’s very comforting to be in a room full of people working (and talking) on sustainable change!
Two main conclusions stayed with me after the conference.
The first was stated quite clear and shared by all people present: It’s time to stop talking and start doing. Which is kind of a dual message in a room full of people talking about the topic. But still.. Read the rest of this entry »
Maemo - at the risk of stating the obvious -is Nokia’s Linux-based operating system, developed by a global community of open source programmers and enthusiasts. The Maemo community is independent from Nokia and is run by its own peer-elected council. All future high-end Nokia devices (Like the new N900 out soon) will run on Maemo, which means that users will be able to program, develop and share applications freely: a great perspective!
This weekend, the Maemo community organised its third annual conference at Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek. Parallel to the ‘regular’ conference program, Fronteer Strategy was asked to develop a co-creative development process on the topic of ‘Creativity on the Move’.
When we would have to choose a ‘perfect’ client, it would be one that has the same ambition that we have: being out there on the frontier, doing stuff others haven’t done before. I’m pleased to announce that we have found one: Nokia, already keen on co-creation, is going to stretch its boundaries when it comes to opening up to the public.
We are currently involved in a co-creation project organised around the Maemo Summit. Maemo - for those of you who are as software-illiterate as I am - is an open source Read the rest of this entry »
24th of June, 1300hrs - the first of the what would later turn out to be 223 people arrived at the High-Tech Campus in Eindhoven to visit the very first Dutch Co-Creation Event. In the following hours, they could talk to the 10 co-creation companies that were present, listen to the key-note speakers, participate in the panel-discussion, join a workshop and finish the day with a nice cool glass of wine while standing in the evening sun, overlooking the water and enjoying the contents of their goodiebag.
If you are currently working on improving your product- or service development, marketing, communication, online market-research or innovation strategy, prepare to travel ’south of the rivers’ in a couple of weeks! But also if you are a designer, marketeer, innovation-consultant or CEO, you will not regret a trip to Eindhoven on the 24th of June.
Companies and organisations are searching for tools to help them win their day-to-day battles. They are faced with increasingly challenging questions: where to find future growth? How to deal with the risk of commoditisation? How to innovate from the core? How to get - or stay - connected with customers?
Our clients ask us: can co-creation provide the answer? Our answer: Yes it can, but as with many other solutions, co-creation will only truly deliver if it’s done properly. Co-creation is more than just a tool; it is a program of change. With 8 years of lead-user co-creation experience, Fronteer Strategy has identified a few strong recommendations to anyone wanting to venture out into this area.
In our desire to share these findings, we have written a white paper, which we invite you to read. In this white paper, we identify different types of co-creation (suitable for different types of challenges), present 5 guiding principles for success, discuss the value of co-creation and present a number of inspiring cases from around the world.
Inspired? Triggered? Curious? You can find the complete paper here.
I had the honour of meeting Frank Piller, one of the most knowledgeable people on co-creation, open innovation and mass-customisation. We had set up a meeting since our Rooftop expert co-creation product is the kind of thing Frank researches.
Frank is currently conducting a study on the 65 most important co-creation consultancies or intermediates, he told me in an animated conversation. He is especially looking for examples of well executed co-creation projects and he is invesigating the larger expert based platforms like Innocentive. One of the people admired by Frank was, next to Eric von Hippel, Nikolaus Franke, from the Wirtschaftsuniversitat in Vienna. He also mentioned the success of Innospace, the on-line community based customer research tool, and Hyve, the German design-driven innovation and research firm. Read the rest of this entry »
One month ago we held a Rooftop co-creation session in Helsinki for Nokia. The subject involved developing scenarios for using mobile phones in the future. The people we invited to join the excellent Nokia team flew in from Portugal, Belgium, Holland and Sweden. A great mix of backgrounds and characters formed the basis for a successful workshop.
Nokia is actually one of our most cherished clients. They see the true value and meaning of co-creation. Together with them we are exploring the road less travelled in open innovation. This road is one where companies actually allow people from outside to join its challenges for a longer period of time. Nokia intends to come back to our external professionals in a few months to actually touch base on the progress that has been made. And even after that, 9-12 after the session, we would like to review with the entire group what had been done with the workshop outcome. Did it change in any way Nokia’s product portfolio, strategy or vision? I can’t wait to find out.
Discussion continued in any case long after the session in the KLM business class - our private lounge.
We are a management consulting firm based in Amsterdam. We specialise in Innovation, Brand Development & Co-creation. We explore the boundaries of companies and organisations. Find us at www.fronteerstrategy.com
“Organisations call out for more open innovation to stimulate sustainability” was one of the messages during the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last week. Well, we couldn’t agree more.
Last week I visited the ‘Nationaal Sutainability Congres’ in The Hague. The largest sustainability event in our country where around 700 people came together to discuss, to learn and to inspire. A bit more of the first than the latter perhaps, but it’s very comforting to be in a room full of people working (and talking) on sustainable change!
Standing on each-others’ shoulders
When we would have to choose a ‘perfect’ client, it would be one that has the same ambition that we have: being out there on the frontier, doing stuff others haven’t done before. I’m pleased to announce that we have found one: Nokia, already keen on co-creation, is going to stretch its boundaries when it comes to opening up to the public.
24th of June, 1300hrs - the first of the what would later turn out to be 223 people arrived at the 
If you are currently working on improving your product- or service development, marketing, communication, online market-research or innovation strategy, prepare to travel ’south of the rivers’ in a couple of weeks! But also if you are a designer, marketeer, innovation-consultant or CEO, you will not regret a trip to Eindhoven on the 24th of June.
In challenging times, new rules apply. 
I had the honour of meeting 
One month ago we held a 
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