A consumer products company was opening its innovation process and engaging with academia, startups, and other potential collaborators.
It needed its scientists to collaborate globally with other scientists and entrepreneurs to find technologies that could be the source of product innovation while addressing delicate issues such as intellectual property protection..
Working with both their external innovation group and learning and development team we built a two-day experiential learning program, together with a train the trainer component, so that the external innovation team could take the program around the world—and on a regular basis. We piloted the program live to great acclaim and worked with the training team to call upon their experiences and stories, as well as learn the concepts, materials, and exercises. Additionally, a set of webinars included interviews with the first wave of scientists who were collaborating with third parties to take some of the mystery out of external innovation. The program has become an annual staple of the Company’s learning and development program and has been delivered around the world to hundreds of scientists.