Short CfBI profile followed by introduction to the Open Innovation meets Big Data Consortium

1. Centre for Business Innovation
(CfBI)
Open Innovation meets Big Data Consortium
Dr. Peter Hewkin
ceo@cfbi.com
www.cfbi.com

2. About CfBI..
• In the 1990’s our team used to run a UK Government ‘ThinkTank’ where we developed the consortium formula to deliver
‘collaborative advantage’ for the benefit of the UK
• Today as a private enterprise and without subsidy, we deliver
the same service across Europe and (increasingly) the USA for
the
exclusive
benefit
of
consortium
members
• We do not hold IP or sell consultancy! All we do is manage
blue-chip consortia around fast moving areas of technology
or business process on an annual subscription basis

3. CfBI Consortia
•
Are commercially led and confidential (Chatham House rules apply and outside expert
witnesses are by invitation only) to address needs and interests of member organisations.
•
Are made up of groups of 8-12 companies from 2-4 countries who sign up for an initial
period of 12 months and have the option of renewing membership
•
Meet 5-6 times per year at member sites or at locations of special relevance, with
agendas and set by member consensus. Meetings last a day and are preceded by a
member networking dinner and (sometimes) site visits / other activities.
•
Current ‘live’ consortium themes are:
– Open Innovation meets Big Data
– Microfluidics
– Inclusive Design
– Nano-Carbon Enhanced Materials
– Social Media for Business
– Cyber-Security
(We are currently scoping new consortia around ‘Industrializing Carbon Capture’. ‘Flow Chemistry’, ‘Smart Grids’ and ‘Assisted Living’)

4. Consortium Members
(2013 extract)

5. What do CfBI consortia ‘feel’ like?
…Cambridge
Zurich
Berlin
Salzburg
Eindhoven
Milan
Boston
Brussels
San Francisco
Barcelona
Toulouse….

6. Consortium Membership Benefits Include..
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Accelerated Learning / Horizon Scanning for new Opportunities
“Know Who”
Engagement with Regulators / Policymakers
Assembling groups to bid for National or International Projects
Finding and getting to know new Customers / Suppliers
Benchmarking / Site Visits
Setting Standards / Advocacy
Influencing the Agenda of the Consortium
Sharing the programme costs with 7-10 other organisations..
Doing some deals on the side with leads you have found in the Consortium
“Doing more with Less”
(Members get more hands on influence and privacy than going to conferences,
members pay less than they would to consultants / outsourced service)

7. Recent Successes..
• The NCEM-1 consortium won a Euro3million FP7 project to
develop “Ultrawire” .. A nano-carbon material with improved
conduction properties compared to pure copper
• The OI-3 consortium developed a benchmarking system for
companies applying Open Innovation (this was later published in
a peer reviewed academic journal)
• The MF-4 consortium proposed standards for interconnecting
microfluidic devices to promote ‘plug and play’
• The ID-1 consortium developed improved interfaces for member
products (opening up new market of older consumers)

8. Open Innovation meets Big Data
•
Open Innovation is the paradigm put forward by Henry Chesbrough that companies should
‘buy and sell innovation’ from partners alongside their closed innovation (inhouse R&D). It is
widely applied by leading companies around the globe.
•
Our OI consortium has followed and extended this thinking over many years. During OI3
working on ‘Open Innovation for Health and Wellness’ the consortium identified a special
class of situation where data (rather than IP) could be traded between (often unfamiliar)
partners to add value
•
Members recognised this to be a “big trend” because of the quantity of data collected as a
side effect of business as usual, the increased value-add from software in many business
processes and the new opportunities to extract information from unstructured/unprepared
data. We also sensed support from some government agencies wanting to free up data.
•
The Consortium decided to make this the focus of its most recent cycle OI4 .. Expanding
from health to manufacturing, operations, finance, communications and beyond
•
OI-4 focuses on commercial / trading opportunities .. Not on technology, data standards and
architectures. We are not necessarily supporters of Open Data or Free Data!

9. Current Members of OI4 include:
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Sealed Air (Packaging - Holland)
Deutsche Telekom / T-Systems (Communications - Germany)
SonyDADC (Media – Germany/UK)
WorldPay (Financial Transactions – UK/US)
Scottish Enterprise (Smart Cities - UK)
The Met Office (Weather Data - UK)
The Ordnance Survey (Location Data– UK)
Uni Cambridge (UK)
Uni Bristol (UK)
Zeppelin Uni (CH)
(..and growing! Where members request it, we avoid competitor
involvement in the same consortium)

10. Areas of OI4 Current Interest..
• Where are the fundamental opportunities to extract value from Big Data? And
how can these be grasped/protected?
• Are different regulatory environments emerging (eg UK, Germany, USA?) and
how will emerging policy influence commercial uptake?
• What lessons can we learn from / with each other?
• In particular with regard to:
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Smart Cities
Smart Supply Chains
Personal Data
Health and Wellness
Environmental / Spatial Data
• Can we find novel deals / opportunities together which would not be available
on an individual basis?

11. Upcoming Programme Autumn 2013
• November 18th “Implications of Data Policy” hosted by the
European Commission in Brussels. Briefing on the
opportunities / challenges we see and Looking at different
policy/regulatory environments emerging in UK, D, USA
• “Towards Even Smarter Supply Chains” hosted by (tbc
?Germany?) . Looking at opportunities for 3rd party
‘horizontal’ data to add value to ‘vertical’ supply chains
• Adding value with weather / geospatial / location data ..

12. What’s the Deal?
• Corporate Participation in the OI4 consortium costs £10k (=Euro
12k)
• This allows up to 3 (un-named) employees to participate in all
consortium activities for a 12 month period (typically 5 meetings)
• Typical resource input is 6-20 person days per year (might be
business development, training, or R&D budget) – depending on
“lean forward” or “lean back” attitude!
• Members can influence / host the consortium to fit with their
interests
• There is no IP agreement (if members see IP or business
opportunities they can grasp these on an individual basis). There is
not requirement to put findings into the public domain.
• CfBI do not sell consultancy or software!