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E-mail this to a friendSeven large and significant Welsh anchor businesses have competed successfully for an Open Innovation Development Award to originate new, innovative relationships with other businesses and external parties. Each can employ an ‘open innovation champion’ to develop and implement their proposals.
The concept of open innovation has attained widespread interest in recent years, and is based on the realisation that large companies cannot find solutions to all of their new product development issues in-house. Instead their customers, suppliers, inventors, universities or other stakeholders may hold valuable insights into their problems.
The anchor companies will explore best practice approaches, and introduce new methods for product & process development. They will share their findings at regular meetings of a newly created project board, and disseminate their findings to the wider Welsh business community.
Edwina Hart, Minister for Economy, said:
“This pilot two-year Open Innovation Award is a new approach from Welsh Government that aims to bring commercially exploitable solutions to light for the benefit of Welsh businesses of all sizes.
“Through exploring the best practices of those businesses currently driving forward the innovation agenda in Wales, these seven anchor companies are in turn committed to sharing these benefits by encouraging and nurturing other Welsh-based businesses to engage in their own innovation work.
“Wales already lays claims to many new and exciting technologies, and the Welsh Government is committed to maintaining this reputation by encouraging collaboration between locally-based businesses of all sizes wherever possible.”
Typical examples of the type of innovative activity the anchors will generate might be advertising technology needs via a website, using technology scouts to source solutions, offering latent Intellectual Property for development by others, and sharing expertise & facilities.
A by-product of sharing information and open innovation is that developments which the anchors have started but not pursued, can be taken up and progressed by others who perceive they can add value.
Ideally, open innovation networks develop beyond the usual vertical relationship between anchor and supplier, and become win-win scenarios for all. Actual and potential suppliers collaborate with each other and include service suppliers or the ultimate customers, as they seek new routes to market.
The seven participating Anchor companies are: Newport global security solutions company Cassidian; defence and security company General Dynamics, which has bases in Oakdale and Newbribge; IQE in Cardiff; and Wales & West Utilities; pharmaceutical developer Norgine which has a centre in Hengoed; Pure Wafer at Swansea; and Tata Steel.
Keith Baker, Chief Operating Officer at Pure Wafer, said it was important for his company to become involved in the project as an organisation concerned with innovation at every level:
“Innovation is a cornerstone of our business and we commend the Welsh Government on its collaborative approach to introducing best practices into Welsh companies.”
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