PUBLIC CORPORATE INNOVATION LABS
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The admonition "don't do math in public" clearly doesn't apply to modern R&D. While the Lockheed Skunkworks and Apple are known for their secrecy, many organizations now open up their process so that we can all participate. This is more than "open innovation." This is public, interactive, innovation.
IDEO, Google, PARC, Yahoo! have/had public websites for their "labs":
- IDEO Labs: "... is a place where we can show bits of what we're working on, talk about prototyping, and share our excitement over the tools that help us create."
- Google Labs: "Explore Google’s technology playground"
- PARC Living Laboratory: "In the spirit of open innovation, this is one of the places where PARC scientists and engineers share their prototype web-based services, alpha-stage software downloads, proof-of-concept for various competencies, and collaborative development programs. These are available free to the public for trial and feedback; in turn, we hope to draw on the diverse perspectives the online community will share. We do not currently provide access to inactive projects (e.g., Map Viewer) here."
- Yahoo! Next: (defunct?) "... is a showcase of some of Yahoo!'s newest and upcoming projects. It is essentially an incubation ground for future Yahoo! technologies in their beta testing phase, and a chance for the Yahoo! community to interact and have a say on how upcoming products are designed and fine tuned. Each prototype can be discussed in its own individual Yahoo! Next forum. The Yahoo! Next website is currently offline for redevelopment" (from Wikipedia.)
"The SAP Labs Network leverages SAP's rich diversity and technical and business expertise to deliver the best software solutions and services in the IT industry. Located in high-tech centers across the globe, the SAP Labs Network helps SAP engage the local ecosystems and enable co-innovation. Seen as a local company within a seamless global network, each SAP Labs location increases SAP's adaptability and agility to rapidly address changing markets and meet evolving customer needs." (Thanks, @nilofer for the example.)Here's a twist: Each of the above public examples have an organization taking the lead and gaining its own benefit. What if the users took the lead? We see this with the free and open source software collaborations. What about more physical innovations, or cases where the it's not a joint project, but many people still contribute? I have a couple of examples and will do a follow up post -- but it would be wonderful if you could share any examples you have. These can be self-organizing (like much of the open source software), facilitated by membership enthusiast organizations, or....