subject: Open Innovation In The Banking & Financial Sector [print this page] When it comes to business expansion and developing something new, open innovation is the obvious choice that modern day entrepreneurs resort to. It is not only marketing, media, advertising and aviation that adopt open innovation and crowdsourcing, the financial and banking sector to have resorted to the same, to arrive at innovative solutions.
Teammate, from United States made use of an open innovation contest a where the internal auditors helped to shape the future of audit technology. The 2012 Audit Innovation Competition was open to every audit professional globally with prize money of $50,000 in cash along with other prizes were offered for the best ideas on applying innovative technologies to the auditing process. The competition gained a lot of attention with more than 400 auditors submitting their ideas. Registered users too could cast their vote and share comments on the new concepts introduced helping the judges make an informed decision and judged on the basis of applicability, functionality and feasibility and design.
Innovation products such as crowdsourcing software and idea management software have gained popularity with global brands resorting to open innovation ideas. A notable example is that of the World Bank, the United States is resorting to open innovation to achieve its Millennium Development objectives. The World Bank Open Data Initiative was launched in April 2012 in order to make available a wide range of data sets for free comprising Africa Development Indicators, World Development Indicators and Millennium Development Goal Indicators. The Apps for Development competition received approximately 107 submissions from over 36 countries. According to Aleem Walji, Head Innovation Practice, World Bank Its inspiring to see nearly one third of the apps coming from Africa, and that software developers and development professionals around the world are applying their skills to address development challenges. The winning submission was shortlisted by a panel of judges for the best idea awarding them with prize money of $55,000.
Thus we see that thinking out of the box is becoming an order of the day to promote business and develop a deeper audience connect. At the same time, most companies have realized that the public at large who are the present and potential consumers, are not just capable of submitting feedback but also can contribute innovative ideas and provide creative inputs. Idea management therefore has become more of an open mass participating process that not only leads to creative product, community development ideas but also promotes a culture of knowledge sharing across the company.
