Collaborative Platforms: Experimenting the BIF Way

Posted by Chris Flanagan on May 27, 2009

I get asked all the time for recommendations of gurus of open innovation. Always, professor Satish Nambisan from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is on my list. As more and more companies shift from innovation initiatives that are centered on internal resources to those centered on external networks and communities, Nambisan's book, The Global Brain, provides a roadmap for innovating faster and smarter in a networked world.

He's written a new article on collaborative social innovation titled “Platforms for Collaboration.” Published in the Summer 2009 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review he uses BIF’s Trauma Bay project as an example in the article.

"Experimentation platforms should provide neutral environments for deep tests of alternative solutions. Neutral environments are not biased in favor of any particular stakeholders, so the data that they generate are valid and informative for all potential adopters. For example, BIF is a nonprofit entity with no direct ties to either the supply side (hospital equipment manufacturers, industrial designers, etc.) or the demand side (physicians, hospitals, etc.) of the innovations it is developing."

Although it's only available through subscription, I'm sure if you drop Satish a line, he'd be willing to share it. Beyond BIF, the article identifies three distinct kinds of collaboration platforms - exploration, experimentation and execution - and then outlines what you can do to put these platforms to work. Examples abound for social innovators looking to create change in the spaces between organizations, sectors and silos.

RELATED

• Read my article Even Giants Start Small to learn more about P&G's Connect + Develop open innovation model.
• Watch BIF research advisor and innovation intermediary Ellen Levy talk about living the network effect. She's learned how to take advantage of the enormous arbitrage opportunity at the information layer - finding all kinds of ways to move information between individuals who otherwise would not find one another or share their insights.

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