Business strategists have been advising businesses to take collaboration seriously for years.  Early doubts, based on old school ideas that competition and collaboration do not mix, have been proven to be of limited use in an era where innovation and business growth is not easy without the exchange of value and capabilities that collaboration produces.  While the trend towards business collaboration has been steadily growing, it now is clear that big industries are getting comfortable with the new business paradigm where collaboration is an essential part of solid business strategy.  Here are some recent examples from a growing chorus of businesses that are finding new solutions through collaboration: sometimes with the unlikeliest of partners. 

Collaboration key to reviving Australian manufacturing

Collaboration, skills and funding are the secret ingredients to reviving manufacturing in Australia according to a new report from St George Bank.

The report reveals 12 per cent of firms adopt general collaboration and just four per cent work together on research and development. Sam Lewinson, COO and co-founder of JAR Aerospace which has a focus on unmanned aerial systems, told Sky News “we’ve got many small to medium sized businesses developing different kinds of technology but in Australia we lack a sovereign capability to draw all of those technologies together”.

UNSW Professor Veena Sahajwalla said collaboration is central to the “circular economy”, pointing to reusability and repurposing “end of life products” as a means of optimising production….READ ON

3 Ways to Build a Culture of Collaborative Innovation

“In nimble organizations, innovation ideas aren’t reviewed once or twice a year by a senior committee. Instead they undergo a constant process of review, refinement, and — if necessary — death.” – Kate Isaacs and Deborah Ancona Image credit: Andy Roberts/Getty Images

All organizations have the ability to be smarter than the sum of their members’ intelligence and talent. Unfortunately, most are actually dumber. The good news is there are a handful of practical steps to boost collective intelligence.

Create tools that allow everyone to communicate strategically about innovation. Good ideas can come from all corners of a company, but would-be innovators may need help developing a strong strategic argument. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the innovative government agency focused on transformational breakthroughs in national security, uses a set of simple questions called the Heilmeier Catechism (named after a former director), to think through and evaluate proposed research programs…READ ON

UK Biobank Requires Earth’s Geneticists To Cooperate, Not Compete

There’s an astonishing outpouring of new information linking genes and health, thanks to the efforts of humble Englishmen and women such as Chritopeher Fletcher. The 70-year-old man recently drove 90 miles from his home in Nottingham to a radiology clinic outside the city of Manchester.

He is one of half a million Brits who have donated time, blood and access to their medical records to a remarkable resource called UK Biobank. The biobank, in turn, has become a resource for more than a thousand scientists around the world who are interested in delving into the link between genes, behaviors and health…READ ON

Why BP is getting into bed with David Jones. The promising marriage of petrol and gourmet food

“Fill ’er up?”

That was the immediate greeting from the driveway attendant when pulling into the service station in the days before self-serve pumps. Yes, once there was someone to pump your fuel and check your oil and water.  The colloquially named “servo” actually provided service.

Then, in order to reduce operational costs and remain competitive, they became “self-service” – you pumped your own fuel, pumped your own tyres, and didn’t dare ask for mechanical assistance….READ ON

India’s collaboration important for climate action: UN

The collaboration with India on climate action is quite important and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommitted to continue leading on climate issues, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Summit said. “The contribution, collaboration with India is also quite important, being one of the major emitters. Prime Minister Modi met only a few days ago with the Secretary-General in Biarritz and recommitted to continue to lead on climate and particularly…READ ON

Competition or collaboration: from which well does innovation spring?

It is my pleasure to talk to you today about innovation through the prism of competition and collaboration.  In thinking about this topic, I naturally went to the innovation statistics that are commonly quoted that paint Australia in a relatively poor light, particularly with respect to our business to research collaboration effort. I wondered whether businesses may not be collaborating because the Australian economic policy landscape has been so heavily dominated by competition policy for several decades.  Reforms that started in the early 1980s — floating the dollar, reduction in tariff protection, privatisation of public monopolies and strengthening of competition laws have been credited with driving Australia’s strong productivity and economic growth during the 1990s.

But perhaps the competition mantra has become so pervasive that businesses are reluctant to collaborate?  Or are there other factors at play including the veracity of our innovation data? I thought it was timely to explore the links between competition and collaboration and innovation – the role of government in supporting this activity — and the data and analysis we use to help shape effective policy.  Hence the title of today’s speech: Competition or collaboration: from which well does innovation spring…READ ON

Collaborate and celebrate

Over the past 3 years, the MNT editorial team has quadrupled in size. We’ve grown from a team of six working in a small office in a little seaside town in the south of England, to a team of 24 working in a large office in one of the biggest seaside cities (still in the south of England).  Accuracy and transparency have always been our guiding stars when it comes to creating authoritative and trustworthy health content.

By adding even more talent to our editorial team, we have been able to drive our content forward and help more people make informed decisions about their health and well-being.  I am so proud to lead an innately curious team dedicated to researching and reporting on the latest medical studies and providing you, our readers, with reliable health information…READ ON