co-innovation

3 min read

Cooperation, co-development, co-opetition. What does it take to succeed in the “co-economy”? Just as the “sharing economy” has changed the basic assumptions upon which the hotel and taxi industries are built, the “co-economy” is changing some of the fundamental ways we think about developing and bringing innovations to market.

4 min read

People say that opposites attract, but big differences in economic or social background, education, and personality can sometimes lead to misunderstanding, conflict—and a weekly appointment with a marriage counselor! The same can be true when unevenly matched companies—such as a large enterprise and a startup—try to collaborate on an innovation initiative.

3 min read

The new model for co-innovation can be messy. No longer a one-thing-at-a-time, linear methodology, today’s development process involves people from different organizations, with different backgrounds and cultures working on several different tracks at once, with rapid prototyping, real-time customer feedback, and multiple iterations all along the way. It involves frequent failures, fast recovery, and new […]

3 min read

Traditionally, Cisco’s innovation strategy has been built around four foundational pillars: build, buy, partner, and invest. Recently, however, a fifth pillar—co-innovation —has become more prominent. In my last blog, I introduced the idea that innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it requires diverse skill sets and multiple points of view. But it’s only been in the […]

3 min read

A few years ago I sat down with technology leaders at a major oil and gas company to talk about a solution they wanted Cisco to develop, and they had some unique and interesting requirements:

2 min read

On November 3rd, 2014 at the Software Defined Network-Multiprotocol label Switching SDN-MPLS (Software Defined Networking-Multiprotocol Label Switching) Conference in Washington D.C: I moderated a stellar panel titled, “Developing Products...