Open innovation triage

Open innovation, by definition, requires that a company understand and assimilate highly specialized information from diverse inputs outside of its traditional competencies. That sounds scary. It requires the company to develop a new set of capabilities. That sounds even scarier to anyone who has tried to teach an old company new tricks.

Among the most important of these new tricks is how to quickly and effectively triage information. To accelerate this process (and do it right) many companies have learned to use external subject matter experts to quickly and inexpensively synthesize information and assess innovation opportunities. It may be tempting to find the expert with gravitas but those having the most success are not using the big name HBS authors. They are tapping the “everyday” expertise of disciplines as prosaic as pharmacists, chefs and even auto mechanics. This “innovation triage” is a capability that tomorrow’s best-in-class innovators are mastering today.

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