Collaboration and Innovation

The history of human development has seen people striving to work together, collaborate, and innovate so as to improve livelihoods and address real or perceived threats, internal or external. The world of business is no exception.

The need to innovate and generate new ideas, approaches, and concepts is not new, but the pace of technological change has changed the playing field.  

Collaboration and innovation are most often successful when key stakeholders have shared values and objectives – initiatives in this arena can fail badly, despite best efforts, if this is not the case.  The terms can also mean different things to different people and there are many different modes, models and levels of maturity that can apply, increasing complexity.

Members of our team have conducted comprehensive research and been heavily involved in projects which sought to deliver great insights and outcomes in both arenas. A summary of three highly relevant projects (relevant team members noted) follows:

Collaboration – Multi Social Service Agencies: acted as project manager and advisors for a Collaboration Study that involved comprehensive stakeholder consultation, international research as to relevant trends and models of collaboration or partnership, analysis of suitable structural options, project risk assessment, and development of forward path to achieve shared objectives and target outcomes. (Jeremy Bendall, Dana Cumin)  

Strategic Review, Co-working & Innovation Hub: we were asked by the directors to perform an independent strategic review which included financial and scenario analysis, identifying structural options, profiling target funders, advice on business direction and priorities.

Innovation Park: on behalf of potential shareholders and partners, we led, and project managed targeted research; development of a suitable governance, partnership, and commercialization model; investor due diligence; financial investment analysis; project risk assessment; and reporting to key stakeholders. (Jeremy Bendall).

Study of Collaborative Innovation:  a comprehensive six-year study into “collaborative innovation” involving quantitative studies in NZ (over 40 businesses) and the USA examining knowledge sharing behaviour (Dana Cumin).

We also have broad experience in commercialisation models, process design and delivering education forums that keep businesspeople and students ahead of the game, well informed, stimulate debate, and galvanise action. 

To find out more, contact us for a discussion of how we can help you.