Over the next 15-20 years, breakthroughs in development across the globe is predicted to be driven, either by innovation in technology or those that enable more people and organizations gain access to that technology. Businesses across the world are realizing that technology innovation can no longer be confined within organizational silos and to a group of researchers or scientists working in a lab. Open innovation is slowly but definitely emerging to become a preferred framework that enables businesses to work with each other, startup companies and academia to create fundamental innovations that address market challenges. Simply because it allows all stakeholders in the process pool their strengths, practices and budgets to develop new technology solutions.
For Anup Sahoo and Sanjay Sahoo, childhood friends who later coincidentally became colleagues working on Innovation Management Software at 3M, the growing market opportunity for technology innovation triggered an ‘Idea’- Starting one of India’s first firms providing technology scouting, with the world’s technology information organized on one single platform! They together dreamt of establishing the ‘Google for Technology information’ and the World’s largest innovation network! What excited them further was addressing the ‘lack of innovation from India’ perception that was beginning to gain momentum at the same time.
Way back in 2010 when Anup and Sanjay quit their well-paying MNC jobs to start ‘Ideapoke’ and when they spent the next one year merely developing a software, they were taking a huge career risk; for open innovation at that time was a concept that even large MNCs and corporates in developed markets like US were just beginning to consider. Anup and Sanjay though firmly believed the risk was worth it and they slowly but surely seem to be proving it right.
Circa 2015, Ideapoke lists a database of 600,000 + technologies, 60,000 companies across the globe doing niche R&D in different areas and 1350+ universities globally and the database continues to double once in every six months. By 2016, Ideapoke will provide over a million technology innovation listings. With Indian companies exploring open innovation in the last few years, Ideapoke today works with some of the biggest organizations globally, across the FMCG, Manufacturing, Automobile, Consumer Electronics, Chemicals, F&B and Packaging sectors. Its client portfolio boasts of names such as Unilever, Reliance, Coca Cola, Godrej, Titan, Himalaya Herbals, Department of Science and Technology to name a few.
With a growth rate of almost 30% MoM, Ideapoke is looking to capture 20-25% of the estimated 1.5 billion $ market for open innovation in India over the next 4-5 years. The global market is estimated at 7.3 billion $. “At a time, when new technology is released almost every day and when each new product or device launched is packed with the latest ground breaking technology, ‘Innovation’ has emerged to become a need that has both businesses and consumers alike reach for their wallets. Today, the world’s leading corporations, Government, investors and leading technology companies value an idea against its potential for commercialization in the market and recognize that a number of such ideas can emerge only from co-creation and collaboration”, says Anup, explaining the market opportunity.
IDEAPOKE’s vision is to democratize innovation and create a business platform that facilitates “Innovation as a Service”. Its online platform deploys proprietary technology using big data analytics and matching algorithms to crowdsource technology partners across the globe and collaborate with the best solution providers, enabling customers solve their R&D and product development challenges. At its core, IDEAPOKE discovers, connects, and collaborates with partners to solve business problems. It taps collective intelligence by involving customers in defining and creating product or service offerings, thus enhancing the value for both consumers and companies alike and resulting in innovative products.
Anup Sahoo, Founder and Sanjay Kumar Sahoo, Co-founder & Vice President-Operations will be glad to share insights on the below threads,
- Driving force behind the inception of IDEAPOKE.
- Global trends of open innovation & co-creation and how is the state in India?
- How IDEAPOKE is empowering the knowledge workers and companies to co-create?
- Why IDEAPOKE platform is the Google for R&D professionals?
- How it will establish world’s largest innovation network?
- Company’s business and financial road map.