Proctor & Gamble Open Innovation Twitter Chat Describes Symbiotic Innovation Success

Karen Hiser

If you read the Fuentek blog regularly, it should come as no surprise that Fuentek is an advocate of the Symbiotic Innovation approach to open innovation. In fact, we pioneered Symbiotic Innovation—it’s our philosophy that spin-in and spin-out practices are best employed in a proactive and complementary way. Because we’re so passionate about Symbiotic Innovation and the success it can bring to tech transfer efforts, we’re always thrilled to see other organizations approaching tech transfer similarly.

For example, a few weeks ago I participated in a chat on Twitter with Chris Thoen, managing director of Proctor & Gamble’s Global Open Innovation Office. Hosted by open innovation strategic advisor Stefan Lindegaard, the chat covered topics ranging from how to select an ideal partner to lessons learned from Thoen’s experiences at P&G.

I was pleased to hear about P&G’s broad definition for open innovation—which closely matches Fuentek’s definition of Symbiotic Innovation—encompassing traditional out-licensing, R&D partnerships, and in-licensing simultaneously. As P&G’s Thoen put it during the chat, “out-licensing is [a] way to build healthy partners.” (Check out Laura’s post on other ways that out-licensing (spin-out) facilitates partnership development (spin-in).)

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As Thoen recognizes, the proactive and concerted operation of spin-in and spin-out exponentially increases tech transfer success. In fact, P&G’s Connect+Develop Web site puts this into action. Both in-licensing technology needs and out-licensing opportunities are prominently and equally represented. In the tweet chat, Thoen noted that in-licensing and out-licensing are “part of [the] same toolbox.” Our thoughts exactly!

P&G’s embracing of open innovation clearly is helping solidify its dominance as a consumer products leader. And at Fuentek, we’ve seen time and time again—through years of experience and success after success—how employing Symbiotic Innovation can help organizations meet their R&D needs and license their technologies to meet the needs of others.

Are you practicing Symbiotic Innovation? We’d love to hear about it. And you can learn more about Fuentek’s Symbiotic Innovation services here.

–By Karen Hiser