Wellspring Blog

  There are four main tactics that organizations commonly use for inbound open innovation; tech scouting, vertical collaboration, horizontal collaboration, and technology sourcing. These four tactics are all positively correlated with innovation performance and are all useful to firms who are... Read More

Although large multinationals can no longer maintain the R&D and innovation monopolies they enjoyed in previous decades as displayed by research centers such as Xerox’s PARC, there nonetheless remains a disparity in the level of investment between firms. A phenomenon has emerged where dominant... Read More

With over 140,000 novel compounds analyzed before selecting one for commercialization, Dow AgroSciences depends on technology scouting to continually fill its global R&D pipeline with new opportunities. Even with 8,000 employees, this is a task too large to be done solely through internal research. Read More

Why horizon scanning is valuable Read More

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For many organizations, success is largely based on the speed with which they can bring products to market. Especially in markets where competitors can easily gain a foothold, first mover advantage helps solidify leadership and establish an effective competitive advantage. Read More

With the dilution of the R&D monopoly most Fortune 50 company could wield through mass corporate research parks such as Xerox’s PARC, organizations have begun to compensate through external technological innovation. Given the reality that no single organization has more than 1% of the global R&D... Read More

New tech scouting teams need to establish a clear scouting process early on to avoid mistakes down the road. Most scouting units are less than three years old, and as such, many are still experiencing growing pains and uncertainty. If your company has recently formed a scouting unit, there are some... Read More

  Open innovation has been positioned as a solution to myopic internal R&D efforts, with crowdsourcing being the primary means with which large organizations are willing to outsource their internal R&D. While crowdsourcing is effective in solving small problems such as coloring and naming of... Read More

With a growing emphasis on developing clusters of innovation through public/private partnerships, universities have increased investment in technology centers and research parks. However, given the constraints placed on research parks in terms of financial and personnel resources, institutions need... Read More