Page 172 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Which Model Is Right for You? 159

for each new concept. Venture capital firms employ full-time
people to identify external resources that are capable of adding
value to new ventures and investment selection.
For instance, some companies have for many years sup-
ported communities of practice or expert communities to cross-
fertilize specialized knowledge across the company. To apply
a market metaphor, communities of practice generate liquidity
for knowledge markets. Innovative concepts can be generated
anywhere within an organization. Unfortunately, they are often
created in locations where they are unlikely to be acted upon.
An effective community of practice helps move concepts to the
right location for action.
Recently, information technology has enabled broader and
deeper opportunities for such organizations through online
blogs and wikis. The Internet age has also fostered a new type
of episodic but structured knowledge networking: the online
R&D marketplace. Firms such as InnoCentive, NineSigma,
and yet2.com seek to bring clients with scientific or technical
problems together with scientists worldwide who might have
solutions to those problems. Such forums have accelerated
the discovery and formation of connections among disparate
disciplines and industries, which are so often the source of
innovation.
More aggressive still, some companies that are committed
to corporate entrepreneurship have designated specific indi-
viduals to pursue networking. These network builders are to
be “door openers” for technical evaluators, as well as people
who can attract top talent to participate on corporate entre-
preneurship teams. Research by Richard Leifer and his col-
leagues in the 2000 book Radical Innovation suggests that two
types of networking support personnel are particularly bene-
ficial: (1) “hunters,” who actively seek out ideas with applica-
tion potential, and (2) “gatherers,” who understand strategic