It’s not new. The knowledge-sharing attitude is at the core of innovation. It’s been acknowledged by firms already with the boom of open innovation in the past few years, as well as open software and standards. The idea is that firms cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research and knowledge anymore, the boundaries between a firm and the outside world have become more permeable.
Today, the importance of sharing for innovation is no longer reduced to knowledge nor reduced to firms, it’s actually about doing together. The Do-It-Together movement is overwriting the Do-It-Yourself brigade! Generation Z is already pretty much into it, they tend to bypass school to learn by themselves whatever they need directly from the web. That’s a result of the rise of open education offering free access to knowledge. The World Bank has even launched the Open Knowledge Repository to assemble its own publications online under the license “Creative Commons”.
Co-creation and collaborative innovation is thus becoming increasingly important: involving a community, outside experts or even the crowd became key in the ideation phase of new product or service development. Whether involving customers or suppliers to contribute to develop ideas and concepts, or well-chosen individuals from the crowd – with special skills or talents – co-creation is all about the art of composing a diverse group on a case-by-case basis. Indeed, depending on the alchemy between the various characters and profiles, the dynamics of the group and emergence of ideas will greatly differ.
It’s clear that the Do-It-Yourself era is over. it’s now time to remember that “none of us is as smart as all of us,” and just Do-It-Together: Co-create, co-operate, share, adopt an open mindset and collaborate!
