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In this podcast, Tom DeGarmo, a principal in PricewaterhouseCoopers advisory practice, talks about why companies must practice open innovation, especially in this economic downturn.

What do the Apple iPhone and Linux have in common? They are both products of some form of open innovation. Linux came about through the collaborative efforts of the thousands of developers who participate in the open source community. The hundreds of applications for the iPhone mushroomed when Apple made the iPhone platform available to application developers. Other companies, such as Google and Microsoft, have followed in Apple's open innovation footsteps.

Tom DeGarmo, a prinicpal with PricewaterhouseCoopers, first got exposed to open innovation when he worked at Bell Laboratories, AT&T's research arm, back in the 1980s. He says that Bell Laboratories' culture thrived on sharing experiences, ideas, and research for the sake of research. He says, "We took the best of what we learned and applied it to problems outside of the lab."

With traditional innovation, or what DeGarmo calls closed innovation, companies have ownership over their assets and their intellectual property. They look at how they can leverage their employees' expertise to solve problems. "This type of innovation can be somewhat limiting and very constraining. In a down economy, companies need to explore every avenue for innovation."

Companies that practice open innovation, on the other hand, look outside for smart problem-solvers. "Some of these people might have already solved your company's particular problem, might have people working on your particular problem, or might have people with insight to share. You might find people who are working on totally unrelated problems. If you apply these problems to your situation, you might solve your problem. If you are open enough, you can take advantage of what the world has to offer."

In this on-going series of innovation podcasts, DeGarmo provides insight from his research experience with open innovation, gives examples of open innovation communities, and gives CIOs and CTOs several takeways for using technology to carry out open innovation initiatives.

Bio
Tom DeGarmo is a principal in PricewaterhouseCoopers' advisory practice and leads the technology consulting solutions practice. He joined the company following PricewaterhouseCoopers' purchase of BearingPoint's commercial services business unit in June 2009. DeGarmo was executive vice president of BearingPoint's 2,000-person commercial services business unit, comprised of financial services and commercial services (including managed services, management consulting and Latin America). He has also served as a board member for the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council. DeGarmo has more than 25 years of experience in commercial and public sectors, including positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Unisys.

Resources
PwC Innovation, PricewaterhouseCoopers
http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/innovation/index.jhtml

Use Web Innovation to Cope with Downturn, Harvard Business Review

https://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/35871

An Open Business Model Is the Convergence Imperative according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, GlobeNewswire
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=96706

Production Credits

Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio Producer

Audio Editing by Doug Marcis