On the 17th of June Mozilla launched Firefox 3, the latest iteration of their cross-platform internet browser. It’s the culmination of 10 years work by “a global community of people who believe that openness, innovation, and opportunity are key to the continued health of the Internet”. The company lauds the fact that thousands of individuals from around the globe contributed to the innovations contained within Firefox.
On that day alone the new Firefox was downloaded over 8 million times. Even before launch the browser had an estimated 15-18 per cent of the web browser market. Internet Explorer remains a dominant leader, but Firefox is a respectable second, beating Apple’s Safari browser which holds just a few per cent. Even if Safari catches Firefox, many of the innovations contained within Apple’s browser come from collaborative, open source software. And open source software is not just in web browsers - it’s a part of major operating systems, professional and consumer software applications, and website technologies. The collaborative approach to creating innovative software is no fad - it’s challenging and changing the computer software industry.
In many ways open source software is a showcase example of collaborative innovation. An open approach to the development of new ideas provides a diverse knowledge pool, which when organised effectively and underpinned with strong communication, has the potential to make disruptive, creative and innovate products and services.
That is the opportunity. And it’s becoming so compelling that the business world is beginning to ‘swarm’ around the concept of collaborative innovation.
Swarming - an increasingly used model of ‘collaboration beyond the organisation’ - injects mass participation into businesses. MIT Sloan Management Review defines the three principles that should govern a swarm business: it must ‘gain power by giving it away’, ’share with the swarm’, and ‘concentrate on the swarm, not on making money’. A focus on sharing, integrity and community offers the potential to generate new ideas and innovations, and create successful businesses along the way. “Now collaborative innovation is being extended from the realm of idea generation and product development to the very essence of doing business”, say the authors from MIT Sloan.
The importance of this model is the recognition that collaborative innovation demands a certain level of responsibility and integrity from stakeholders. If collaborative innovation evolves upon open principles akin to those of swarming, there should be universal opportunity. The creative individual could obtain invaluable resources usually reserved for much bigger fish, or showcase their talents with a view to developing employment or new business opportunities. And businesses large or small could take value from a wider and more diverse pool of knowledge, talent and ideas - in order to improve their innovation process.
With open innovation as the primary goal, and self-interest a close second, creative individuals and businesses can collectively benefit from the collaborative approach. Should the balance swing too far from give to take, the spirit of collaborative innovation may quickly fade away. That makes collaborative innovation something to be used, but also respected.
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