If a company communicates more, it will innovate, sell, and grow more. Companies must always make an effort to be open up more. While big brands are automatically overwhelmed by customers, the remaining 99.9 % of the companies should work hard to use every opportunity to attract and talk to customers.
Open innovation will be more open if these limitations are removed or relaxed:
1) Do not restrict who you communicate to,
2) Do not set deadlines,
3) Do not focus on a specific geography,
4) Do not limit to only specific goals,
5) Do not focus on risks, but on rewards.
Examples of open innovation approaches:
Limited: We want German PhD engineer to solve our engine problem by Friday, so we can make more money with it.
Open: We want everyone to tell us their problems or ambitions, at any time, and we will find a way to help them.
The paradox is that while companies are always focused on a niche, they are actually solving general human problems. For example, a solar energy scientist is working to make homes warmer. Product design and engineering are always extremely specialized, but there is no need for open innovation and communication to be specialized as well. By being more open, engineering resources will have a chance to be applied to new problems, allowing bigger innovation leaps and making the company more competitive.
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