Co-operation aids innovation

Food companies will miss out on opportunities to innovate if they are unwilling to collaborate with other companies, General Mills has warned.

Julie Ennis, senior manager at the firm's new Worldwide Innovation Network, said many manufacturers had begun to realise that their research and development departments needed to look beyond their own four walls for inspiration.

Until recently, blinkered thinking had prevented General Mills from capitalising on a host of great opportunities from third parties, she said.

But things were changing now that formalised structures had been put in place to capture and progress ideas from external sources. "Two years ago, a broker approached us with technology for carbonating yoghurts that had been developed at Brigham Young University," said Ennis.

"We sent out a standard letter explaining that we did not review, accept or fund ideas from outside the company."

Following a strategic rethink, General Mills has since struck a deal with the broker and launched a highly successful product using the technology to target the 'tween' market, she said. "Today, we are actively seeking such partnerships."

'Open' innovation did not mean stealing small companies' ideas, she insisted. "We are looking for people with patented or patent-pending technologies or products which have already been commercialised but where they don't have the resources or expertise to realise their potential."

Companies could now access new ideas and technologies in record time using online networks of experts, said Ennis.

This enabled them to forge mutually beneficial collaborations to ensure that the best ideas got to market by pooling talents and resources, she said.