Everyone is getting back and settled in after the inaugural Wellspring Worldwide Sophia User Group meeting.  I can’t speak for everyone who attended, I know all of us at Wellspring Worldwide had a great time and learned a lot, too.  The User Group was a huge success, with more than 70 Sophia users coming to our Chicago headquarters for two days of learning and discussions, with a lot of fun thrown in as well.

So what did we learn?  From both sides, the our clients and Wellspring staff, I think it’s safe to say we all learned a lot, especially about how Sophia is helping expand Open Innovation in some of the fastest-growing R&D companies, universities, and foundations.  The feedback was invaluable.  Just a chance to talk with people who are using our Open Innovation software everyday was eye-opening.  Their suggestions, ideas, and techniques were useful to us and others at the event.

We’ve taken a few days to reflect and process, so here is what we at Wellspring Worldwide think was the biggest lesson that came out of the first Sophia User Group meeting:

The desire for an open network among Sophia users.

Makes sense, doesn't it?  A group of Sophia users, all from organizations leading in research productivity and (Open) innovation, want open communication with others of like interest in Open Innovation and using Open Innovation software. This is a group that knows collaboration is critical to success.

This feedback was both useful and exciting for us.  As an Open Innovation software company, we’re always looking to help our clients achieve their Open Innovation goals, so developing this new network is something we’re looking forward to doing.  We believe strongly in Open Innovation, so creating another form of an Open Innovation network is something we're thrilled to do.

This isn’t to say there wasn’t open communication before; we’ve always maintained close relationships with our clients, whether it’s one-to-one or through our various social media sites.  This reliability was shown by how many chose to come out for the event, learning about everything from data fields to content marketing.

What the attendees at the Wellspring Worldwide User Group meeting expressed, rather, was that now that they know there are so many other collaboration opportunities out there among the user community... the definition of Open Innovation!. They’d like to find ways to connect with one another to share tips and tricks on efficiently using Sophia and improving their innovations.

We’re already getting to work on developing the best open network possible for all of the Sophia Open Innovation software users, and we’ll have more information as these plans get solidified.  As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so whether you attended or not, don’t hesitate to let us know if you have an idea of what would make this network thrive.

So while all of those who came out for the first Wellspring Worldwide User Group meeting are getting back to their routines, hopefully applying new knowledge to their research, we’re doing the same.   We look forward to connecting again, both online and at the next meeting!