In an environment where challenges are complex and change is rapid, no organisation can innovate alone. This is the conclusion of the Innobasque report “Open Innovation and Innovation Ecosystem”, which points out the need to open up innovation processes and collaborate beyond the traditional boundaries of the company. This approach, known as open innovation, is based on the idea that valuable knowledge is not only in-house, and that sharing, co-creating and connecting with the outside generates new opportunities for value.

Today, opening up is no longer a weakness: it is a strategy. But how do you know who to collaborate with, what opportunities to focus on, what ideas to push for? This is where an essential partner comes in: the monitoring and ideation process.

Two worlds that need each other

On the one hand, open innovation offers us the framework to collaborate with external agents -startups, universities, technology centres, other companies- to accelerate, scale or diversify our innovation. It opens doors, connects capacities and allows us to share risks.

On the other hand, the surveillance and ideation process gives us direction. It allows us to observe the environment, understand market signals, detect new technologies or strategic movements… and, most importantly, convert this information into knowledge with the potential to become real projects.

Together, they form a powerful system and complement each other perfectly:

• Open innovation without the monitoring and ideation process risks moving without focus.
• The monitoring and ideation process without open innovation may be limited to analysis without tangible impact.

Integrating open innovation with the monitoring and ideation process not only adds capacity, it multiplies it. The monitoring and ideation process provides the information, analysis and generation of meaningful ideas, while open innovation provides the framework for realising them through collaboration. Bringing them together is key to transforming knowledge into real value, with focus, speed and lower risk..

Conclusion: innovate with purpose, not randomly.

Innovating is not simply having ideas, let alone having all the answers within the organisation. Today, the key is knowing what to look at, how to think and with whom to build. Combining open innovation with a solid process of monitoring and ideation allows us to do just that: innovate with purpose, agility and strategic focus.