Resources Library

Meet Yossi Feinberg, professor at Stanford Business School specializing in entrepreneurship. He’s the director of the executive program Driving Innovation and New Ventures for Established Organizations and co-director of an online digital transformation program.

We sat down with Professor Feinberg to gather his insights from more than 25 years of working with executives to drive innovation. Watch the video for the highlights, or read on for more insights!

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity

Do you see an increase in innovation in large organizations in recent years? And if so, why?

There's a sense of urgency that I haven't seen in the last five or six years. I think that urgency is coming from the fact that the world is actually changing fast.

Consumers expect things to be faster and newer. They find it easier to switch between technologies or between offerings, which is true also for business customers. 

On the other hand, there's also higher expectations for more sustainable products. And at the same time, every industry and every company is under pressure, either from existing rivals or from disruption, because there are many more startups who are now attacking almost every industry.

‍

How do you see companies react to this pressure?

One of the things that we see companies do is react by reorganizing how work is done. An example is companies actually start to organize by product, and they push decision making closer to where the product is created. For example, companies may have product managers who then are in charge of pushing innovation in their own product domains. This brings the customer voice into the process of innovation to provide products faster, and which have a better product market fit

Another example is companies moving to a digital transformation approach where they're trying to digitize the business, create more opportunities and innovation through new business models or through applications of digital technologies. 

But unfortunately, what we see from research out there is that many of these approaches are highly challenging to execute. For example, there are surveys that claim that digital transformation projects fail at the rate of 80% or even higher. And the real problem is that once you try something innovative in an organization and it fails, it becomes much more difficult. The organization naturally resists innovation, and people are a little bit jaded when you try to innovate again.

‍

What do you tell leaders coming to you asking for help?

The first thing I tell them is that there's no recipe. There's no one magic formula that you can just execute innovation in every organization and be successful. If we had that, you would have seen it already. 

The second thing I tell them is that there is a special recipe for their organization. There are actually insights and tools that help each individual organization find its way into successful innovation.

‍

So how do they find their recipe?

So usually, the starting point is identifying the types of innovation that your organization wants to pursue. And with that, you have to start thinking about where will the ideation happen? Where will the best ideas happen? Sometimes it's inside the organization, sometimes it's outside the organization. 

Next, you need to evaluate those ideas. 

And obviously, the most important thing is then executing on those innovations. And executing on those innovations means deciding on what organizational model will execute those innovations. Do you want to incubate ideas? Do you want to work with startups? Do you want a corporate venture capital app? Do you want a portfolio of all these things? There are many ways for a company to actually go after those innovative new projects and you have to make your decision on building those. 

But there are two things that are fundamental as you start thinking about all these elements of identifying, generating, evaluating, executing, and growing those innovative new projects. And those two things are the following. One is the information flow in your organization. How does information flow to the people who drive innovation? And the second part, and maybe the most fundamental part, is your organizational culture.

‍

Why is information flow so important for organizations?

Well, when you go into almost every large company and you ask leaders, “What's the innovation that's happening in your organization?” It's rarely the case that they have a complete map of every innovation that's happening in the organization.

Information flow is dynamic and important from that perspective. But it's not only inside the organization. There's all the information that needs to come from outside the organization whether it's startups, whether it is new technologies that are coming in, maybe trends with consumers or your customers or things on the supply chain. There's always a changing world in which information is crucial when it comes to innovating in your organization. 

But why is this information so crucial? It's because the people who are making those decisions at the innovation level, at the startup level, inside the large organization, they're facing a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity. So having this information and knowing what's going on elsewhere in the organization and outside in the world of the startups or the new technologies or the trends, that is crucial for being able to execute better on innovation projects.

For example, having information on trends or competing startups could be a crucial tool in deciding whether a project is a go or a no-go, whether one project should get more resources than another project, or move faster because this is how we're going to win. Those decisions can help us figure out where to put our resources. And in some cases, what do we need to shut down and prevent having those “walking dead” projects in our organization?

‍

What about the challenge of building a culture that supports innovation?

This challenge has been around for decades; many have researched it and written about it. But we have to remember that organizational culture starts with people. And when we think about the people who are going to drive innovation in the organization and think about what they need. 

They not only need assets and best practices and guidance and support, they also need a community. And they also need support from others in the organization. It's not enough to think about culture as an isolated thing for a group of people who are driving innovation. It's much more important to think about it holistically for all of the organization. 

The nice thing here is that it actually connects to the previous challenge that we talked about, which is information flow. The same notion of a network, of a connection between people that transfers information, can also help innovators find people who will support them.

It also helps people find opportunities to engage and support and participate in new projects. This helps transfer attitudes and create shared values that will change people's eventual behavior and their underlying assumptions that will lead them to be more innovative personally. That is how to foster a culture of innovation throughout the organization.

‍

Each business function has its own tools and platforms. What is the role of a technology platform for driving and monitoring innovation in larger organizations?

I'm a strong believer that technology can enable and support innovation in large organizations. The main reason is that it's not technology for the sake of technology, but technology can help us with this information flow problem that we have. 

It can also be a tool that creates a community. So it helps us with transferring those values that eventually translate into this culture of innovation. More importantly, with technology you can make sure that you have best practices, that you're anchored in the business values that innovation can create, and that you can implement better decision making. And in many cases, technology is what helps you to scale whatever solutions you come up with. And that's an extremely powerful tool.

Do you collaborate with external partners to co-create new value? Then be sure to check out Capgemini’s latest report The power of open minds: How open innovation offers benefits for all.

The report surveyed more than 1,000 large organizations to find that:

• 83% of organizations say that open innovation is a critical success factor in achieving sustainability goals
• 75% of organizations say that open innovation is critical to addressing complex business issues
• 71% of organizations plan to increase investment in open innovation in the next two years

However, most organizations have been unable to tap into the full potential of open innovation. Among the recommendations made by Capgemini is to adopt technology enablers to manage and coordinate open innovation initiatives. Thomas Girard, Bloomflow CEO & cofounder, explains in the report how “Innovation management platforms serve as a catalyst for an open innovation strategy, helping align organizations and their partners while uncovering valuable pain points.”

Unlocking the power of data is crucial to transforming open innovation processes. The ability to easily extract insights on project success rates with specific partners is key to improving open innovation outcomes. Innovation management platforms serve as a catalyst for an open innovation strategy, helping align organizations and their partners while uncovering valuable pain points

Thomas Girard / CEO & cofounder at Bloomflow. Source: Capgemini

For more in-depth information on the challenges and solutions of effective open innovation, check out the full report here.

In its 10th edition, Hub Berlin drew over 5,000 attendees including entrepreneurs, C-level executives, investors, and technology enthusiasts, who were brought together to discuss the digital future throughout this two day event. 

‍

‍Our Take

Among the many great ideas presented by the exhibitors, some of them particularly caught our attention: 

‍Deutsche Telekom’s initiatives for Sustainability

The brand shared its commitment to the circular economy and recycling initiatives and shared examples of resource reuse. One of these allows smartphone owners to look for old cell phones at home and to bring them to the Telekom Magenta shop. The repurchase value of the returned cell phones is donated and has enabled the planting of approximately 4000 trees in 2022 alone.

Yamaha’s experiential installation “Kando” 

Hub Berlin is renowned for its innovation and creativity with a significant portion of the event dedicated to digital art. Yamaha’s experimentation was one of the elements and our team had an interesting opportunity to participate in an installation that captured the essence of Kando. 

Kando is a Japanese word for simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that are experienced when we encounter something of exceptional value. The installation was a game that allowed two players to experience Kando at the same time, through non-verbal and intuitive communication between each other. 

‍

The startup “Neue Fische” 

Established in 2018, Neue Fische has been at the forefront of training career changers through short-format boot camps, equipping them with the skills needed in the IT industry and connecting with exciting employers. It also helps identify talent within the existing workforce in order to further qualify them for IT professions with a future.

Roundtable on Generative AI

We attended a roundtable discussion on the competitive advantage of AI for enterprises. Featuring perspectives from corporates, politicians, and scale-ups, the roundtable highlighted that Europe has the data to be strong player in this field provided these players can effectively collaborate together. The AI revolution will continue to impact markets and corporations across sectors are keen to explore how it can be used to their advantage. Hence the need for more collaboration with tech ecosystems.

The discussion featured Christine Wang from Lufthansa Innovation Hub, Anna Christmann for the Digital Economy and Startups at Bundestag, and Christopher Kränzler from Lengoo.

‍Our key takeaways 

At the event, we had the pleasure of witnessing the profound impact of the Bloomflow platform in driving innovation to the market. As a company dedicated to fostering innovation ecosystems, we gained valuable insights into the challenges faced by German innovators.

It was inspiring to see how our platform plays a role in bringing innovation to the market as well as collaborating IRL with several German companies and corporate innovators such as Hella and BASF. This experience furthered our understanding of their needs and allowed us to forge partnerships with industry leaders, expanding our network and sharing knowledge.

Hub Berlin's location added to the excitement of the event. It took place in an unconventional setting that combined art, yoga, a biergarten, and even a nightclub creating an overall vibrant atmosphere for participants to network. This unique combination of elements is typical for a tech conference in Berlin as it conveys the city’s spirit.

Being physically present in our strategic markets is a top priority for us, and this event provided a great opportunity to do so. We had the privilege of meeting current customers, partners, and key stakeholders in the German innovation field, including organizations like the Fraunhofer Institute and SAP. These interactions hold potential for exciting innovation opportunities, fueling our commitment to making a lasting impact in the market.

Follow us on LinkedIn to see which event we'll be at next!

In the ever-evolving digital and tech worlds, enterprises are frequently confronted with security threats that put the organisation's privacy and information at risk.

As a company driven by innovation, we acknowledge the critical role of data security in providing our clients with a trusted environment where they can explore new opportunities and transformative solutions. Therefore, our aspiration is to achieve nothing less than excellence with full accountability for upholding the highest security standards for both ourselves and our clients.

With this commitment in mind, we are pleased to announce that Bloomflow has obtained ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications! 

‍What are ISO 27001/27701 certifications?

These accredited certifications are globally acknowledged as the benchmark for information security and privacy management systems, serving as a testament to a company's commitment to best practices, industry standards, and regulatory requirements. 

ISO 27001 focuses on the implementation and maintenance of Information Security Management Systems (ISMS), while ISO 27701 extends it to include requirements for a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). 

In practical terms, these certifications confirm that Bloomflow adheres to best practices, industry standards, and regulatory requirements by implementing optimal security and guarantee:

1. Integrity: We protect your data and ensure its security.
2. Traceability: We track and document the history and usage of information.
3. Availability: We address incidents fast and maintain uninterrupted service.
4. Confidentiality: We uphold strict access controls to protect your data.

Obtaining ISO certifications is challenging as it assesses security protocols, risk management practices, data protection measures, and regulation compliance of a company. This lengthy process involves an independent certification body to conduct a comprehensive audit of all systems and processes. We choose to do this in the most complete way possible, by certifying the entire company (not only our product) and by choosing of the most serious certification bodies, International Organization for Standardization, AFNOR.‍

What does this mean for our clients and partners?

We understand that a reliable environment is at the foundation of successful innovation. These certifications are a  confirmation that our clients data is protected to the highest privacy and security standards:

• Our information security and privacy management system covers security across all of our operations such as access control, information security policies, asset management, communication, human resources, and more.
• We consistently monitor all 114 control points outlined in ISO 27001, and 49 control points in ISO 27701.
• We take a serious approach to privacy compliance and, among other measures, set these principles: privacy by design and by default, data processing agreement, audit and minimisation of sub processors.
• Our product helps our clients comply with the GDPR thanks to different features.

What's Next?

Looking ahead, Bloomflow is committed to maintaining its trajectory of secure innovation and raising the bar even higher. With the attainment of ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications, we have laid a solid foundation for data security and privacy management.

To ensure ongoing excellence, external auditors will conduct annual evaluations of our management system, while a comprehensive audit will be undertaken every three years. This marks just the beginning of our journey.

We remain committed to fostering innovation, including advancements in AI, while prioritising the privacy of our customers' data. Visit our Trust Center for more information.

Let Bloomflow focus on security while you innovate with confidence!

This year, Viva Tech celebrated its 7th edition with astonishing numbers, including over 150,000 attendees from 174 countries, 2,800 exhibitors, 2,400 startups, and an impressive lineup of over 450 speakers.It is undoubtedly the perfect convergence of groundbreaking ideas, transformative technologies, and endless possibilities.

The event embodies Bloomflow's mission of business meeting innovation, showcasing our dedication to fostering collaboration for a promising future. Our team had the opportunity to share insights in panel discussions, connect with thought leaders from diverse industries, and forge partnerships that will drive innovation in the years to come.

Insights from Corporate Innovators 

Step into Viva Tech live and watch firsthand as L’Oreal, Capgemini, JCDecaux, Ecosys, and EIT Food team members share their insights on: 

• Trends at Viva Tech 2023
• Why they decided to participate 
• Coolest things they saw at the event
• Why they innovate

‍

Corporate innovators attend Viva Tech with various missions. Whether it is to discover great start-ups or solutions, meet clients face-to-face, or launch a new product, Viva Tech serves as a hub where they can fulfill their diverse objectives.

Our Take   

Throughout the event, Bloomflow team members were sent on a mission to discover top innovations. Among the abundance of great ideas, here are a few startups we found interesting: 

NeoPlant- created bio-engineered house plants that absorb 10x more indoor air pollution than regular plants. Their goal is to transition to outdoor environments and establish bio-engineered forests for larger-scale carbon absorption.

Arcade For Good- creatively blends arcade games with philanthropy to engage young people in charitable causes. Despite their young age, they have achieved significant success, showcasing determination and a unique approach.

Notpla- focuses on sustainable packaging and aims to "make packaging disappear." They utilize algae-based membranes for liquid products, offering tasteless and odorless packaging with a favorable shelf life. 

Wedooit- gives IT materials a second life for corporate use by promoting their reuse before they are discarded. They offer low carbon solutions for sustainable IT, emphasizing the circular economy to maximize the value of your IT equipment.

Listen Leon- enhances company culture and fosters improved relationships within teams. They achieve this through their innovative app that enables the sending of anonymous compliments among team members.

‍

We hope to see you next year at Viva Tech 2024!

Transparency is key to a thriving innovation culture. We’re introducing new features with roles and permissions. Share portfolios securely with the right teams at the click of a button.

Define groups

Create and manage groups that reflect how teams are structured in your organization. Whether they’re based on departments, regions, or temporary initiatives, you have the flexibility to manage users in the way that suits you best.

Groups can be private or public so you can allow users to join the innovation communities that suit them best, or implement a governance that keeps information secure.

‍

Define access to portfolios

Now you can grant access to specific areas in your portfolios with permissions ranging from view-only to contributor or creator, and administrator (can grant access to others).

For example, you can keep IT projects viewable to all users, but keep editing permission only for the IT team.

‍

Give temporary access to specific portfolio items

Need to temporarily invite a colleague to participate on a project or relationship in your portfolio? Simply navigate to the item you’d like to share and grant them the appropriate level of access.

‍

Innovation is a process that happen throughout an organization. So to support your teams' efforts, Bloomflow's new features allow you to confidently add data and manage who can view or edit it.

Raphael Guillet / CTO & Co-founder at Bloomflow

‍

‍

Team leaders and admins can use these new tools to keep information running smoothly and safely in Bloomflow no matter how large.

If you're interested in learning more about this feature and how it can benefit your business, reach out to our team.

‍

Innovation is the lifeblood of organizations, driving growth and competitive advantage. To harness the creative potential of employees and stakeholders, idea management plays a crucial role.

What is Idea Management?

Idea management encompasses three essential steps: collection, processing, and implementation.

During the collection phase, ideas are generated and gathered from various sources. These can be internal sources such as employees, or external sources such as customers, or startups and innovators. 

The processing phase involves qualifying, refining, and shortlisting ideas. This ensures the most promising ones move forward that fit with your goals.

Last but not least, the implementation phase turns selected ideas into projects that can generate tangible outcomes.

Best Practices for Idea Management:

Most use cases for idea management revolve around the concept of "challenges." A challenge is a targeted campaign designed to collect ideas over a specific period. Although a continuous idea management can be a valuable use case for many organizations, setting a limited time period can increase engagement by creating an incentive.

Challenges typically comprise of five steps: 

1. Identify the problem
2. Issue the challenge to a target audience
3. Collect and evaluate ideas
4. Shortlist the best ones
5. Implement them

The most common pitfall of idea management is the “idea sandbox syndrome.” This occurs when ideas accumulate without concrete follow-up or implementation. Besides the obvious lack of generating a tangible result for the challenge organizer, this can also decrease employee engagement.

This is why choosing the right tool is key to being able to run idea challenges and bring them to implementation.

Choosing the Right Software

Being able to run idea challenges requires software that allows for the collection and sorting of submissions. However, when selecting any new software, organizations face three key challenges: 

1. Tools multiplicity - we already use many different tools on a daily basis
2. Onboarding - training and adoption
3. Retention - keeping users over the long term

To address these challenges, an integrated approach leveraging existing tools proves beneficial. Integration with familiar communication tools such as Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Workplace from Facebook, or Slack enhances engagement and user adoption. However, being able to take ideas all the way to the implementation phase is crucial, which is why many organizations consider their idea management needs in context of their full innovation management needs.

Idea Management vs End-to-End Innovation Management

The market for idea management tools has shifted from only idea management to end-to-end innovation management as it is a fundamental component of a fuller process.

An end-to-end innovation management platform can provide benefits beyond just gathering ideas because the ideas generated during an idea challenge can be connected to features that enable implementation. For example, you can directly launch and track projects in the same platform. Or, leverage qualified solutions from existing partnerships to bring the idea to life. 

Idea Management is a Must-Have in Your Innovation Process

Idea management is an indispensable component of the innovation management process. To overcome the "idea sandbox syndrome," where numerous ideas accumulate without concrete follow-up, organizations need functional tools. 

Idea management solutions should provide the necessary support to transform ideas into actionable projects, enabling organizations to unlock their innovation potential. By implementing best practices, such as running challenges and incentivizing participation, organizations can maximize the value derived from their idea management initiatives. With the right approach and tools in place, organizations can drive innovation, propel growth, and stay ahead in today's competitive landscape.

References

• Forrester Wave (2022) The Crisis Of Fractured Organizations.
• G2 Best Idea Management Software in 2023: Compare Reviews on 110+. Available at: https://www.g2.com/categories/
• Gartner (2020) ‘Market Guide for Innovation Management Tools’.
• Quadrant (2023) ’SPARK Matrix Innovation Management 2023.
• Staten, J. and Hopkins, B. (2020) ‘The Forrester Wave : Innovation Management Platforms, Q1 2020’

ChangeNOW is the largest event of solutions for the planet where global changemakers gather to tackle our planet's most pressing challenges.

In the 6th edition of the event, 35,000 participants came from 120 countries. 1000 solutions were present to connect with public institutions, corporations, investors, and other startups. All in all, more than 30,000 connections were made!

Bloomflow was selected as a showcased solution to accelerate the ecosystem. As an innovation management platform, we enable corporations to identify and partner with sustainable solutions, empowering them to ignite their transformative journeys.

Attending the event reinforced the connection between innovation and sustainability, as well as the power of collaboration in driving meaningful change.

We were delighted to welcome guests including the Deputy Mayor of London, Rajesh Agrawal, and a learning expedition from Leroy Merlin. The presence of both public and private sector leaders demonstrated the growing recognition of the importance of sustainable innovation across industries.

Even though this year’s edition is over, the solutions directory remains accessible online here if you’re on the lookout for innovative partners.

Our Take

Throughout the event, we had the privilege of attending talks and workshops where inspiring innovators and leaders shared their triumphs and hurdles. Here are our some of our key takeaways:

Collaboration is the key to success. We firmly believe that by uniting our efforts, we can unlock solutions that are greater than the sum of their parts. Let's harness the power of collaboration to accelerate positive change together!

Change must start from the top and the bottom. To foster a truly sustainable future, organizations must embrace a top-down and bottom-up approach. By empowering individuals at all levels to become change agents, we can create a lasting impact.

Purpose-driven companies are leading the way. Companies that align teams with purpose are spearheading the sustainability revolution. Let's learn from these purpose-driven champions who are paving the way for a brighter future.

We hope to see you at ChangeNOW 2024!