Collaborative innovation network

Collaborative innovation is a process in which multiple players contribute towards creating new products with customers and suppliers.

Collaboration can occur in all aspects of the business cycle, depending on the context:

• Procurement and supplier collaboration
• Research and development of new products, services, and technologies
• Marketing, distribution, and commercialization

Collaborative innovation network (CoIN) is a collaborative innovation practice that uses internet platforms such as email, chat, social networks, blogs, and Wikis to promote communication and innovation within self-organizing virtual teams. The difference is that people collaborating in CoIN are so intrinsically motivated that they might not be paid nor get any advantage.

Thus, a CoIN is a social construct with massive innovation potential. The originator of the term has defined it, Peter Gloor from MIT Sloan's Center for Collective Intelligence, as "a cyber team of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by the Web to collaborate in achieving a common goal by sharing ideas, information, and work".

Indeed, CoIN is a type of open collaboration that helps organizations to become more creative, productive, and efficient. By adopting CoIN as part of their culture, these companies accelerate innovation, uncover hidden business opportunities, reduce costs, and enhance synergies. They can engage employees from every level of the hierarchy towards a joint project (discovering new talents and promoting direct relations between employees) and partner with external parties.

Similar is the concept of the "Self-Organizing Innovation Network" author has described, Robert Rycroft of the Elliott School of International Affairs of George Washington University.