Innovation Factory congratulates PostNL with their new name and independence!
Since June 2010, Innovation Factory has been facilitating numerous successful Idea Challenges for TNT Post. From now on, new Idea Challenges will be organised for PostNL. Innovation Factory hopes to carry on with PostNL for many years in the future.
Do you want to generate more ideas and more revenues?
Are you looking to engage all of your personnel in innovation?
Do you want to create a more innovative culture?
Than it’s time to find out more about crowdsourcing!
In 2006 Jeff Howe coined the term crowdsourcing for describing the phenomenon of outsourcing tasks to large groups of people. If you want to find out how you can use crowdsourcing within your company, follow the Webinar (Web Seminar) Internal and External Crowdsourcing tomorrow, 15:00-16:00 BST. In the Webinar, Professor Han Gerrits, CEO of Innovation Factory, will:
Pure Insight, an independent source of business management information for experienced managers of Design, Innovation, Product Development and Technology, facilitates the Webinar.
Using our IdeaNet™ software, Kadaster’s employees can easily send in, share and develop new ideas.
The Idea Challenge is part of Kadaster’s innovative approach to idea management. Besides a large number of new ideas, the challenge can provide insight in what’s going on in the organisation. Kadaster collects information about registered properties in the Netherlands, records them in public registers and in cadastral maps and makes this information available to members of the public, companies and other interested parties in society.
Kadaster’s first Idea Challenge will finish on June 30th. Innovation Factory will do everything possible to make this Idea Challenge successful.
Tomorrow from 7 – 8 p.m., Ebbe Nieuweboer of Innovation Factory will talk about our nomination for the Amsterdam Creative Award 2011. The interview is initiated by Goede Zaken, Amsterdam FM’s new program on sustainable and innovative businesses.
The interview, which will be in Dutch, can be followed online or on the ether (via Salto at 106.8 FM or via cable at 103.3MHz).
This award rewards one creative organisation (profit and non profit) who has an excellent combination of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The contribution can be a new product, innovation of a process or a new way of working.
From May 11th to 13th 2011 at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Creative Amsterdam will host leading Dutch creative entrepreneurs operating outside the Netherlands. The talent and hard work of these successful go-getters will be celebrated with a varied program: from open design sessions, business dates and export circles to talk shows, an award show and the first Open Studio Night.
Innovation Factory is proud to have been selected for the final round of the Creative Amsterdam Award. We’re looking forward to May 13th, when the Creative Amsterdam Award 2011 winner and category winners will be announced by Carolien Gehrels (Alderman Amsterdam).
Yesterday, an interesting dialogue on Speed & Innovation was broadcast by RTL Z, in collaboration with Microsoft. In this dialogue, presenter Else Havenga talked with expert guests including: Johan Krebbers (Enterprise Architect Shell), Menno van Doorn (Director Exploration New Technology Institute, VINT, and ICT researcher of the year in 2007) and Prof. dr. ir. Han Gerrits (VU University Professor E-business & IT-Industry/CEO Innovation Factory). The dialogue is part of six episodes on Cloud Computing.
Guests had the chance to participate during the live broadcast, by using twitter (# itnext) and through the LinkedIn Groups Next IT cloud power.
The dialogue, which is spoken in Dutch, can still be watched on the it-next website: ‘aflevering 4: Snelheid en Innovatie’.
Last year, Randstad celebrated its 50th anniversary with the company’s first Idea Challenge. 
This Idea Challenge delivered a vast number of ideas, some of which are now being implemented. Moreover, the Idea Challenge provided an unprecedented insight into the challenges and solutions of all parts of the organisation. Additionally, Innovation Factory trained the core Challenge team to become actual Idea Champions.
Following up on the success of this first challenge, Randstad decided to run a new Idea Challenge this autumn. Innovation Factory is proud to be once again helping Randstad to make their Idea Challenge successful!
Randstad is the world’s second largest temporary and permanent employment and HR services provider in the world, operating in more than 40 countries.
Stay tuned for more information.
Innovation Factory hosts an Innovators Training for Strukton Rail. In this training, a group of Strukton Rail innovators is guided through the Innovation Funnel.
Through a series of keynotes and practical exercises they will:
– Acquire in-depth knowledge about innovation, its enablers and possible barriers within the organisation and beyond.
– Be educated about the Innovation Funnel, its stages and gates, and selection criteria.
– Receive some training in ideation, and how to grow new ideas into actual innovations. 
– Learn how to use business models and presentation templates to support their ideas.
– Prepare pitches of their ideas for Strukton Rail’s Innovation Board.
The training will be delivered over a day and a half, on an off site location. We expect these ten Strukton Rail employees to become Innovation Front runners in the organisation.
Strukton Rail develops, installs and maintains railway systems in various countries in Europe. With its 3200 employees, the organisation is growing into one of Europe’s most important specialists in rail systems.
Jobs, vacancies and internships in the new field of Idea Challenge Management
Innovation Factory is regularly hiring new people for a great number of tasks in the dynamic new field of Idea Challenge Management and the development of the supporting software. For a quick look at our vacancies, go to jobs. If you are motivated, get in touch.
Over the past four years, McKinsey has conducted an interesting study about the relationship between the use of Web 2.0 tools and companies’ performances. The results of the study were published in the December 2010 edition of the McKinsey Quarterly, the business journal of McKinsey.
The research shows that a payday could be arriving faster than expected: ‘A new class of company is emerging—one that uses collaborative Web 2.0 technologies intensively to connect the internal efforts of employees and to extend the organization’s reach to customers, partners, and suppliers. Among respondents at companies using Web 2.0, a large majority continue to report that they are receiving measurable business benefits.’
Read the full article here
