At i2S, we can say that we were « Schumpeterian » and today we are « pirates of innovation «  and this passage is a rewarding path, a daily quest, an extraordinary human adventure.

From Schumpeter to a free business

Innovation is a complex process that can integrate R&D, creation and anticipation. It is also a collective effort between industries, researchers, human and social science (H.S.S.), creation, design, students, users.

The vision of innovation of Schumpeter is « executing new combinations. » It leads to the production of new goods (products, services, processes); such as the introduction of a new method of production or a new means of transport, the implementation of a new organization or its improvement, opening a new outlet or the conquest of a new source of raw materials.

For a long time with i2S, innovation was more technical or ordinary, as stated Norbert Alter, where in these fields of experience we distinguish:

• ”ordinary innovation” (Norbert Alter) : that of everyday that brings the « tips » of employees or users, in a strong development with the contribution of amateurs on « social networks » ;
• « incremental innovation » that combines innovation to another or improves its functionality or its performance;
• “ disruptive innovation » or « strategic » which creates a new product or service;
• “ invention » which creates a new « technical system » reorganizing the whole society.

These distinctions fade with the erasing of the domination of science over technology. Science and technology merge in technoscience . However, distinguishing the invention of innovation is difficult , Lucien Sfez ( Technique and ideology , The threshold) proposes the term innovation “to mark the merge between invention and innovation, a neologism which you can add the prefix « co » to designate a collective contribution and speak of « co-innovention ».

« Innovention » corresponds to the current model of collective, complex, and iterative innovation combining designers, partners, and users who become co-producers.

It is no longer a linear Fordist (« techno-push ») or marketing (« market pull ») model, but a holistic and interactive model, what some call the « fourth generation » of the R&D ”, characteristic of the « post-Fordist » company and the post-industrial society.

This innovation process undergoes, on one hand, an acceleration by « over-accumulation » products (including software), and secondly, an upstream stretch of design and anticipation, and a downstream strech by combining the user in the process, in particular by capturing the « bottom-up innovation » of social networks. Innovation is collaborative knowledge, knowledge and imagination in the design, and production . Innovation is at the crossroads of two paths intertwined: Applied invention and creation.

An idea must first be put in action to truly be an innovation . Innovation is the process that leads the invention to its diffusion (Kelly and Kranzberg), that the latter is radical (“major”) or incremental (“minor”).

Today, Innovation has become a necessity, an imperative or an injunction in society and in business.

In today’s innovation process, it destroys more than what is produced because the creative synthesis takes time. Indeed, the difficulty in innovation is not technological part, we have a lot of knowledge in this area, but it is the fact of putting innovation at the service of people (for whom? For what?).

Critique of « innovationnisme”

En 1998, Jack V. Matson proposait le slogan “ Innovate or Die “, to characterize the role of innovation in the definition of a hyper-competitive economic climate,

In this context, the word « progress » is perhaps even more important than « innovation » . Progress has a more positive connotation, especially in France, where the idea of innovation is connoted rather negatively and associated with change and novelty.

Innovation means risk. The success stories and failures: also capitalized on the failures.

Most of the innovations are still in safes, since a project in five is viable and 95% of new products placed on the market fails. The failure rate is high in certain large groups and only 0.3% of patents generate money.

Failure can be a necessary step, it’s an evolution, to enable progress. However, in France the failure is not accepted, and especially not to the end of a process of innovation. Reducing the failure rate can not be an objective.

In this context, innovation is a certain measure of risk. By giving more freedom and transparency, agility and creativity are developped . How to accept the risk to innovate? The era of « soft power » promotes skill detectionand the identification of common interests, collaborating by bringing individuals together to share and generate ideas is splendid. In fact, discovering opportunities for neglected (or unexpected) skills and expertise is real, both internally and externally to detect expertise at the other end of the world. Professional networks to discover expertise and skills related to our interests or our activities, or others like Twitter to identify the « watchers » and other detectors of the most active low signals. Also referred to as internal « social business networks » (R.S.E) that allow clusters around technical interests, collaborative platforms, and Idea Management. Not to mention, « APIs », « application programming interfaces », which allow hundreds of developers to integrate such as Open street Map, Waze or the functionalities of Twitter in new applications in addition to the thousands already available to the general public and professionals in the « Stores » and « Markets » manufacturers like Apple (iOS), Google (Android) or Microsoft (Windows). Many brands now include the interest of mobilizing development groups around their platforms to leverage their creative abilities and offer increasingly innovative applications that will affect an ever widening customer audience. The question at i2S is, will we open the code of our software suite LIMB.

The impact of technology increases, strengthens, and expands the field of possibilities (activities, projects, and relationships).

The contemporary « great transformation », this digital revolution is called a protean process – economic, cultural, and social – Computerization / automation of the economy and society, comparable to what was mechanization for industrialization.

Computerization provides opportunities to enhance and expand all activities. The products are thoroughly transformed. The information system becomes the production system and work becomes collaborative. The company passes from the factory to the « cervofacture » network, labor becomes « brain work ». With social networking, there is the contribution of the company and users at all levels of innovation and design process: co-innovation, co-design, co-development, etc.

This mutation is in its infancy marked by connecting computers, machines, and men that accept complex and « intelligent » objects on them. This is the « technologization » of the company, objects, individuals, and bodies, as seems to open the way towards the « NBIC convergence » (nano-bio-info-cognitive technologies).

In this context, the speed of innovation, the key to competition and growth, continues to accelerate and becomes « intensive ”. This is the first time in the history of mankind such an accumulation of technological innovations has occured. Technological power is increasing, but the meaning is questioned.

 

The cooperation in a professional heart is increasingly blurred

“ Cooperate to innovate “. How to create conditions for collaboration to innovate (common visions, shared spaces, types of meetings and exchanges, …), and on supporting start-ups.

There are two main places of innovation concentrated in laboratories and innovative territories (eg Silicon Valley) and networks. Innovation is diffused throughout society, particularly with social networks and the contribution of qualified consumer co-innovators.

Chez i2S, we are focusing skills, knowledge, and research resources on our main catalyst. Innovation requires significant investment, « since it requires prototypes, demonstrators, costly patent defenses” (Bruno Latour).

Now what matters is the user contribution, the contribution of consumers to the innovations (E.g., the designed service « for and by » that category). To improve this phase, major groups, the ETI or SME / SMI venture into co-design in order to be closer to their targets, such as Renault (an ideal car for pregnant women, designed with user concerned). This movement of co-innovation, co-design, with, by and for users, seems irreversible . So, it is strategic to « serve » users and design with them. The risk is that new entrants interfere between clients/users and the industry and recover their market, reducing in shagreen, intermediaries providing no added value in the value chain.

Users may be asked to be innovative in terms of uses, however they can not be innovative when it comes to breaking innovation.

The book “ Open Models, The business models of the open economy « (2014) coordinated by Louis Davis Benyayer , shows how communities organize themselves to collectively solve problems that centralized organizations fail to address . The cooperation also reflects the mobilization of value.

 

The open and collaborative innovation at i2S

Dancing figures for an entrepreneur is quite legitimate, where market shares, profitability, and growth are the performance indicators. But today at i2S, we set sail into uncharted seas in the direction of open and collaborative innovation with a main objective. become a global leader in image capturing

At i2S, a manifesto is now dedicated to this new way of thinking about innovation, we encourage internal innovation through a corporate social network, autonomous groups swarming the business, our vigil is structured to better share between us. To collaborate with competitors stimulates us, to co-create with our customers makes us happy.. We are members of moult clusters and other regional and national institutions, supporting innovation in all its forms, we operate platforms, idea markets, and so we share our problems with external communities, we challenge problem solving competitions. Dealing with complex equations, in our daily lives are acquisition technologies and image processing and we respond with our internal talent but, today and tomorrow, we open ourselves to the outside world, these community « solvers » being real seekers, by organizing our own events dedicated to co-design, co-creation and co-innovation. « Crowdsourcing » is a means of improving our LIMB software suites.

 

Conclusion

It is necessary to question the reasons and motivations of innovation: « Is it better to live? « , »Is it a desire or is it to cultivate an experience? « . Innovation is » extra-ordinary « , ingenious, and must make sense to use provided that it creates value. Innovation is for the one who moves the fastest to implementation.

Our manifesto

Our manifesto reflects the change that we started 2 years ago, fundamentally changing the way we conduct our business; this is what we are supporting with our open collaborative efforts and the way we work today.

The participation of all and the lucidity WILL GUIDE our collaborative effort to develop THE MEANING OF CUSTOMER for example, on the human adventures inherent in the Goal Line with Canal+, or Photo Finish with Swiss Timing, the condor probe with MPI.

we remunerate the success of squads taking into account the impact, stress, market potential, and the intellectual property rights of the project.

we celebrate the efforts of those who submit winning solutions in our internal and external creative and collaborative workshops, as well, we will bring the desire to create proofs of concept or rapid prototypes by creating autonomous teams (squads). Five autonomous teams work on emerging issues and generate growth for i2S.

We collaborate with transparency by publishing our project evaluation criteria that we manage in agile mode for our software suites, and « sustainable lean » for the production of Condor probe endobuccal developed and produced in Open Innovation.

We develop COMMUNITIES via platforms or events to create new products in co-creation via platforms such as Innocentive, Ninesigma or GrabCab.