- Innovation Exchange
Infobox_Company
company_name = Innovation Exchange Inc.
company_type = Private
foundation =2006
location_city =Toronto ,Canada
key_people = Stephen Benson -CEO
Mark Hadfield -CTO
Brynly Hawkins -COO
industry =Open Innovation Services
homepage = [http://www.innovationexchange.com www.innovationexchange.com]Innovation Exchange Inc. (IX) is an
open innovation vendor. IX operates a website which acts as a platform for companies andnon-profit organizations to present innovation challenges to a community of innovators. This community is constituted of individuals as well as small and midsize businesses. In contrast to vendors focused primarily on innovation in the physical sciences, Innovation Exchange fosters product, service, process, and business model innovation. The company has attracted attention for its blending of open innovation and social networking functionality. [ [http://www.canadianbusiness.com/columnists/andrew_wahl/article.jsp?content=20080929_198722_198722 A Better Moustrap] Canadian Business Online,September 29 2008 . Retrieved19 September 2008 .] [ [http://www.openinnovators.net/innovation-exchange-crowdsourcing-collaboration-business-innovation/ Innovation Exchange = Crowdsourcing + Collaboration + Business Innovation] Open Innovators.net,June 4 2008 . Retrieved20 June 2008 .] [ [http://passagecommunications.blogspot.com/2008/05/user-generated-intelligenceinnovation.html User Generated Intelligence...Innovation Exchange] Passage Communications,May 20 2008 . Retrieved20 June 2008 .] [ [http://outsideinnovation.blogs.com/pseybold/2008/07/what-low-cost-innovation-techniques-should-you-be-using-right-now.htm/ What Low-Cost Innovation Techniques Should You Be Using RIGHT NOW??] Patty Seybold's Outside Innovation Blog,July 29 2008 .]IX’s business model takes its inspiration from the work on open innovation and crowdsourcing performed by
John Seely Brown , John Hagel III,Henry Chesbrough , Wim Vanhaverbeke, Joel West, and Scott E. Page (Brown sits on IX’sadvisory board ).Open Innovation is increasingly seen as a key mechanism for developing new innovations. [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10480377 Big Firms Eye 'Open Innovation' for Ideas] NPR.org,27 May 2007 . Retrieved18 June 2008 .] [ [http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9928227 The Love-in] Economist.com,11 October 2007 . Retrieved18 June 2008 .]IX acts as an “innovation intermediary”, meaning that it functions to match organizations seeking innovative products, services, processes or business models (“sponsors”) with individuals and organizations offering such innovations (“innovators”).
The mechanism for this intermediation is a challenge brief. The challenge brief is a short document, typically three to five pages in length, which provides background information about the innovation being sought and enumerates the elements that a response must include. IX provides consulting services which aid client companies to understand the nature of the innovation being sought, and to articulate that innovation challenge to the community in the form of the challenge brief.
Other companies offering open innovation services include
InnoCentive , [http://www.fellowforce.com Fellowforce] , NineSigma, [http://www.yet2.com yet2.com] , and YourEncore.References
External links
* [http://www.innovationexchange.com/ Innovation Exchange]
* [http://www.johnseelybrown.com John Seely Brown]
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