Open Innovation Article Wins Top Prize
Congratulations to NUI Galway lecturer in business information systems Dr Eoin Whelan who is the winner of the 2013 Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize. The accolade is awarded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Technology Review for the ‘most outstanding’ article published on enterprise social media.
The winning article is entitled ‘Creating Employee Networks That Deliver Open Innovation’ and is authored by Dr Eoin Whelan, Salvatore Parise, Jasper de Valk and Rick Aalbers.
Featured in the fall edition of MIT Sloan Management Review, the authors look at how some of the big open innovation players such as Procter & Gamble, Cisco Systems, Genzyme, General Electric and Intel are “disproportionately influential in producing successful open innovation outcomes.”
They argue that the reason other companies haven’t been able to match their successes is because outside ideas do not reach the people best equipped to exploit them. The article illustrates this with examples of missed opportunities. They serve as important salutary lessons.
Maximize OI Potential
Through their studies of companies, the authors identified ‘idea scouts’ and ‘idea connectors’ who can help a company maximize the potential of open innovation.
- Idea scouts search for information, typically on the Internet and combine that with internal expertise to generate an idea.
- Idea Connectors possess the social skills and contacts to make those ideas happen.
On hearing that he had won the award, Dr. Whelan said: “We’re very honoured to receive this prestigious award, and hope that it will focus further attention on our research in social media in enterprise.”
“The research is, we feel, of particular benefit to senior managers and R&D leaders to identify, encourage and reward the idea scouts and connectors for their work in bringing ideas to life.”
The article can be purchased at MIT Sloan Management Review. First time visitors to the site get to see one free article.
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