This report is based on Nesta’s Corporate Connect programme. It explores the value of open innovation as well as how to achieve it.

Key findings:

• Our networks and partnerships are increasingly becoming the key to value creation.
• In the next few years, organisations will become more open and networked. Those unwilling or unable to make the change will be left behind.
• The Corporate Connect programme has created new methods for successful open innovation. We hope this will help corporates co-create with suppliers, consumers or customers to produce investable propositions and launch these successfully to market.
• This report outlines two new open innovation models, termed ‘Discover’ and ‘Jam’. Case studies include our work with Virgin Atlantic, who generated a 10x return on investment through our V-Jam programme, and Procter & Gamble who achieved a 4x cost saving through the Open Innovation Challenge programme. 

NESTA's Corporate Connect programme recognises that big business, though its relationships with myriad suppliers customers and consumers, is vital to the UK's economic health. Each enterprise sits at the centre of its own ecosystem, producing new value from its links with others. Open innovation is a new way of strengthening these links, making them more productive, efficient and long-lasting.

These broad benefits are why Corporate Connect has been working with large firms since 2006, investigating how the complex and sometimes difficult relationships between the Goliaths and Davids of the business world can be enhanced. We worked with Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies such as Procter & Gamble, retailers such as Tesco.com, services companies like Orange and Virgin Atlantic and manufacturing firms such as McLaren. This breadth of experience has enabled us to pull together the disparate threads of the emerging open innovation sector.

Author:
Nesta