I recently hosted a session with open innovation leaders from companies such as P&G, Shell, Whirlpool, Mattel and MeadWestVaco. One of the things that we discussed was the rise of the mobility trend (use of smartphones, iPads and other on-the-go devices) and how this impacts open innovation.
I often talk about open innovation communities and here the impact will be significant – and you can also get immediate benefits if you pay more attention to the mobility factor. The reason is that most open innovation communities and crowd-sourcing initiatives are made with computers in mind; not mobile units.
However, as contributors are getting more and more busy and getting more and more opportunities to join the ever-growing variety of such initiatives, the lack-of-time factor really starts to kick in.
One way to get around the lack of time is to make the offerings accessible 24/7 and thus allowing people to peek in and perhaps even contribute when they have some time to spent while they are on the go. For this, you need to think in terms of apps rather than web-based solutions.
I see this as a one way in which the mobility and social media trends impact open innovation. What do you think? Can you see other ways in which these trends change how we perceive and approach open innovation?
