As 80% of global food supply is produced by SMEs, I believe that food industry value propositions must be about creating value together. We can only make a true impact by collaboration. I call it...
In 2050 the food system will have to sustain more than 9 billion people. And although many are those which require solutions aimed at the increase of production, we have to consider that today...
Agri-food companies operate in a highly strategic and complex sector, but also in a very dynamic and fast changing environment, where they constantly are faced with challenges to satisfy the...
In a complex and fast-changing world where branded food companies are facing an increasing need to access local markets and respond to very specific consumer demands with new products, the area...
Ravi Menon, Director of Blendhub Corp’s company Premium Ingredients Food Services India, started employment with us 1.10.2011 and from a greenfield project without even the building...
More and more freelancers being active in the agri-food industry are coming from positions in large corporations, where they were hired and trained to deliver specific results for years until at...
After many trips to India over the last years, one of the things I am most amazed of is the spirit of collaboration between Indian professionals and the drive towards exploring new possibilities...
Today the digital world offers new possibilities of connectivity and networking, opening up new corporate business relationships and partnerships. Transparent and value aligned interactions with...
Agri-food technology development is a fast changing sector and during the last few years, lots of new start-ups with true potential to disrupt the actual value chain are emerging. These dynamic...
The global Food and Beverage industry counts on an enormous amount of talented food formulators. Specialists, who develop and apply their knowledge and deliver specific formulas and application...
It is a fact that the global agriculture and food production industry employed more than one billion people in 2013 being equivalent to the third of the entire global workforce, and yet the...
Millions of B2B food formulations are today offered to food producers all over the world with one simple message: “My formulation is better or cheaper than yours”. Most of the offered...
Dairy food producers are turning to markets such as Africa: Growth in established markets is low while, population is increasing in emerging countries, which, and where there is an increasing...
Through a Linkedin article, I recently learned about a very interesting concept called “Smart dairy – Farming in the box”. A new way of producing milk anywhere, and a concept apparently...
Recent studies about final food consumers’ preferences reiterate an increasing interest in locally produced products and transparency. Going downstream the food value chain, it is clearly...
I have been working in the agri-food sector for nearly thirty years. After some successes and failures, I consider the construction of a state of the art factory for blending food powder one of...
Arla Foods has recently announced 2 new joint ventures in Nigeria and Senegal with the objective of adding value through selling their dairy powders in Africa. They have announced a strategy...
Fueled mainly by population growth and increasing urbanization, many opportunities are emerging in processed food especially, in developing markets, where new local players are arising. On the...
In a world where the population is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, where two billion people suffer malnutrition, 30% of produced food goes to waste during production and delivery process,...
I recently read an interesting article focusing on the transition to an industrial economy to a service economy, signed by Dave Gray. As suggested in the article, the car is, perhaps, one the...
The food system has a major role in achieving the sustainable development goals. Both in relation to the environmental impact it causes and the need for ensuring a healthy and sustainable way of...
Due to a worldwide fragmented food supply chain, food manufacturers have to deal with countless risks that impact the final price of food products. Therefore, attaining more relevant and precise...
Very proud of my team at Blendhub! After Murcia Food Bank’s visit to our company, we all initiated a very successful food collection, bringing together over 300 kilograms of food products- four...
Water scarcity is one of the great threats to the sustainability of the food systems. United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the food production consumes 70% of the...
In the book The Risk-Driven. Four Questions That Will Define Your Company Business Model, Karan Girotra and Serguei Netessine argue that when designing business models, key choices can either...
Some weeks ago, I enjoyed a fantastic “WE Day” in London with my family and thousands of true everyday heroes. The goal of these events are “to empower a generation to shift the world from...
The fast-changing and complex world in which we live makes crucial for companies the creation of sustainable businesses. They must be able to better understand their supply chains to optimize...
Transparency is closely interconnected with trust; It allows companies to further strengthen their relations with partners along their supply chains and consumers. Transparency opens up new...
After writing over 50 books, some of them with such powerful ideas like in Raving Fans! Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service, Ken Blanchard is not only able to talk about management, but...
Corporations with higher standards of transparency, purpose, and accountability are becoming more common, especially since the financial crisis, and so is the increasing number of companies who...
In the book The Naked Corporation, which I mentioned in a previous post, Don Tapscott and David Ticoll refer to an emergent type of firm: The open enterprise; quite an interesting concept that...
Interest in sustainability and business transparency continues to grow in the management of the enterprises environment, as, for instance, evidenced by recent surveys. Both issues are...
Start with the Why by Simon Sinek is one of the books that I read very carefully as of late, as I referred in previous posts ‘Environment of Trust for Open Innovation’ and ‘What makes us...
Transparency has an enormous potential as a strategic tool for business. Apart from a very useful instrument to engage partners to create services and products, and build solid relationships...
Recently, a few articles about digital nomads caught my attention since some of the projects I lead are based on the same idea of ‘work anywhere’ and even ‘produce anywhere’. A funny one is ...
In this post, I’ll share with you an interesting talk by Henry Chesbrough, the “father” of Open Innovation, at ESADE. After three books on the subject, he discusses the importance for companies...
The world is becoming more open and transparent. Business relations are also changing. People ask companies for more information and them to their suppliers. In a context of openness, old closed...
Lots of innovative products fail in their way into the market. Mental models are difficult to change and are one of the biggest barriers for innovation since they determine the level of...
Startups are always a great source of inspiration. Here’s an interesting case within the food industry. A social enterprise from which some lessons about transparency, sustainability, and...
Here’s a great and short 13 minute talk by Geoffrey Moore. In January of this year, a revised edition of his 1990 classic book, Crossing the Chasm, has been released. It includes new...
Global competition and food industry challenges demand new models of food production. Recently, Nestlé has presented its modular factories that the company expects to start operating first in...
Which are the values and common behaviors of innovative companies? The question has been successfully answered in numerous articles and books. Summarizing, here are some of the insights from...
Attracting talent is a major challenge today for companies and also one of its most valuable assets, especially for those who concentrate their efforts on innovating, improving and finding...
There has been a lot of in the past few weeks around the decision of the electric car company Tesla of opening its license’s patents. I find it really encouraging for innovation, and the debate...
Innovation is becoming increasingly important for...
Processes and structures for innovation are changing. The digital revolution has democratized the access of innovators to equipments, manufacturing systems, as well as knowledge. Innovation has...
This week I was participating in a forum for Corporate Social Responsibility, organized by the Spanish NGO “Acción contra el hambre”(Action Against Hunger) and focused on the role of...
The rate of innovation increases everyday while disruption can come from anywhere. Around 40% of today’s largest Fortune 500 companies are expected to no longer exist within a decade. In...
Here’s the video of the “Impossible” campaign launched by Blendhub Corp to attract evangelists to the new category SMART Powder Blends, and to drive forward a new collaborative...
Openness, collaboration and transparency are trends with the potential to disrupt any business and to align talent to address major challenges and to innovate in a more sustainable way....
Quirky is one of the most popular platforms for crowdsourcing. Their model is about executing ideas through a collaborative decision making platform, as its founder and CEO, Ben Kaufman,...
Sustainability is one of the major challenges that needs to be addressed by companies and their innovation efforts when talking about growth and developing new ideas. In the Ted Talk below,...
In a scenario where marketplaces have become global, technology moves faster than ever and the growth of the individuals’ power is leading to a time of increasing transparency, cooperation has...
Last week I was a guest speaker at the University of Barcelona, Spain. I spoke about innovation for food science and technology students. I explained them Premium Blendhub’s innovation in its...
The claim for more transparency is disrupting companies: In the Digital Era, corporations can no longer dodge this demand, also an opportunity for growth, and innovate in a sustainable way. As...
In high-tech industry, innovators, also known as technology enthusiasts or techies, are the initial costumers of new technologies and innovation in so-called early markets. They start the fire...
Next week on March 11th, I will be attending the event “Innovation in Changing Times: Defining the Blueprints for the Future”, organized by Imaginatik, Goodyear and Cargill. According to the...
Open collaboration can lead to successful product innovations especially in the case of SMEs when companies are able to share knowledge and create value together in an open way. But as a mindset,...
It is still common to find companies that feel reluctant about sharing their technological advances. However, the world is experiencing a major change that affects all systems. The changes...
I recently had opportunity to read the story of Suja Juice in Forbes. I think it is a good example of how perseverance can take the simplest products to become a commercial success. Regarding...
Geoffrey Moore has just released the third edition of his classic book Crossing the Chasm. For this reason, he has published two interesting posts on Linkedin. In the first, “Crossing the...
Social Business is a term used to refer to cause-driven businesses able to generate social impact. Additionally, It is also referred to those businesses that adopt a social model, namely social...
Sustainability can be an interesting enabler of innovation; creating interesting challenges and demands for companies to meet. Many of the greatest disruptive innovations, capable of generating a...
The Not- Invented- Here (NIH) syndrome is one of the barriers to open innovation within companies that are referenced more often. It is defined as a corporate mindset or culture that favors...
Just over a year ago, I started writing this blog based largely on stories related to open innovation. I would like to thank all of you for your interest. These are the most read blog posts in...
Within the food industry, the yogurt company Chobani is a truly inspiring case in terms of innovation and the enterprise culture. Its innovative approach has enabled them to connect with...
Passion and love for what you do are the key elements of innovation. You need to know what would be capable of impassioning you to see where and how you can generate a greater impact, hence...
I recently attended the seminar “The Governance of The Leader Enterprises That Endure” in which top management members of the food industry had the opportunity to chat with Peter...
Much of the value of innovation is the ability to solve significant challenges for society. In recent years, a large part of disruptive innovation has occurred in the digital environment,...
A constant in the leading companies in innovation is the commitment in this area for all members of the organization and the ability to create a true culture of innovation. The values alignment...
In addition to the commitment to constant innovation, the responsibility to give back to society what they have provided to the business is another value that should be in the list of challenges...
“We have got to think differently”, says Oakland Athletics general manager, played by Brad Pitt, to the scouts of the team in the movie MoneyBall (2011). I saw the movie recently and I found it...
It is increasingly common that innovation occurs at the edges or from the bottom to top, and not only in the heart of major companies or important R&D Centers. The lowering of the high...
Over the last years, a series of events have favored a drift toward more open innovation approaches in many companies. That is what we did in Blendhub. There were facts impacting favorably in...
In this TEDx Talk titled “How Disruptors Are Designing For The Future”, Tom Hulme, Design Director at IDEO, lists some of the changes which allow a glimpse into the future and also how new...
The redefinition of corporate culture to implement a mindset of open innovation (OI) can be a difficult process for a company especially because of the change of values and the so-called “Not...
After reading the blog post by Ralph-Christian Ohr titled “Innovation and Growth”, I have been taking a look at the survey he refers in it and I have found some interesting data about open...
Assumptions are one of the reasons why many ideas are left out and never become real innovative products or services. Avoiding risk and pragmatism are very common answers to new ideas, preventing...
There are many formal and informal practices and corporate activities which are included within the paradigm of open innovation. Companies have to constantly explore their environment to find new...
When introducing a culture of Open Innovation, companies find difficulties, especially in aligning internal resources. According to the report “Managing Open Innovation in Large Firms”, the main...
Since I founded Premium Ingredients, a company specialized in functional food ingredient blends, constant innovation became one of our priorities, and this has been possible thanks to our...
Open Innovation is more than just ‘out the old and in with the new’, going outside or outsourcing. In fact, internal collaboration and support is an essential part of an Open...
Crowdsourcing and co-creation are resources used by companies to look for external ideas. They try to develop new products by asking the crowd. There is a lot of potential for innovation in...
In the video below (from TEDx Brainport), Harmke De Groot, Program Director at Holst Centre, highlights the value of Open Innovation to speed up innovation. Innovation is hard work and Open...
Open Innovation requires processes to ensure internal and external collaboration, and good governance is essential to achieve it. In relation to this topic, I found the article linked (from...
Some key points when talking about Open Innovation have to do with networking and connecting knowledge in, both outside and inside companies. In the video below, Seth Godin speaks of the...
Navi Radjou, co-author of the book Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth, defines Frugal Innovation as a business paradigm that enables companies to do more...
This article discusses interesting points in the linked video in which the professor of ESADE Esteve Almirall talks about the Open Cities and also about Open Innovation Ecosystems. He provides a...
When talking about innovation, one of the challenges for companies is to pick up and connect the talent, ideas and knowledge. They are flowing everywhere. John Hagel, co-author of The Power of...
Technology Scouting is an element that can bring much value within the Open Innovation strategy. Identify future trends and technologies outside a company can help it find new partners. Also, it...
From the point of view of companies, successful implementation of Open Innovation requires balancing many aspects such as the internal resistance and the objectives to be achieved. In a previous...
When talking about Open Innovation, companies with specific programs and different practitioners normally focus on issues such as: Fastest return on investment Risks Minimization New talent and...
In the article I have linked here, Rita Gunther McGrath, author of The End of Competitive Advantage and professor at Columbia Business School, lists six signs to detect a broken innovation...
The professor of MIT Sloan School of Management Peter Senge has defined interesting concepts related to innovation processes. His “Breaking the Cycle of Fatalism” and “Tacking Complex Issues”...
I found this interesting publication on Open Innovation, written by Michael Flynn. Flynn is director of Technology and Innovation Platform Organization at SAP Labs and the title of his work is “A...
In the TEDx talk video below you have Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in the Department of Management Science and Engineering of the Stanford School of Engineering, talking about...
Frank Barrett is the author of Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz (Harvard Business Press, 2012). In the video below he summarizes some of the ideas from the book. For...
Steve Shapiro is a well known Innovation Evangelist. In the video below, he talks about Open Innovation. He focuses on the importance of a good formulation of the challenges to take the most of...
Several weeks ago I was talking about our model of Open Innovation at UCAM University, in Murcia, Spain. The title of the conference was “Leading value creation through Open Innovation”. You have...
In this short video, Ken Robinson talks about how crucial it is to create a culture of innovation in enterprises. He stresses that innovation is the key to survival, so companies need to have...
Here is an article by professor Wim Vanhaverbeke on the need of moving towards a more strategic Open Innovation approach. Therefore, he considers necessary to integrate it into corporate...
In Premium Ingredients, Blendhub and Allfoodexperts we have been concerned for a long time about innovation. And how to make it the norm or the food industry. We have benefited in Premium...
In this video Carl Bass, chief executive officer of Autodesk, lists five trends that are accelerating innovation. One of them is the change in business models happening because of Open...
In the video below, Vijay Govindarajan, professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmout, talks about Reverse Innovation. The term referrers to an innovation that is...
Continuing with my trip to Japan… (here is a link to part I) Another thing I find fascinating about the Japanese society – which is directly related to Corporate Social...
I have just returned from our yearly family “learning” trip taking us this time to Japan. I wanted my children (aged 14/12/10 and 4 years old) to experience a culture where values...
On 4, 5 and 6 of March, Patrick Berry and myself enjoyed Front End of Innovation EMEA 2013, in Copenhaguen, where we were able to attend inspiring presentations. We also talked about...
In addition to enabling communities working on line to solve challenges, Open Innovation platforms are also a networking place where you can find experts in different areas. In the video below,...
I found the article that I have linked to here particularly interesting, considering how much Open Innovation is talked about and how little it is successfully practiced. The text, written by...
Michael E. Porter works on Competitive Strategics. In the video from the World Economic Forum I publish at the end of the post, he explains his Creating Shared Value Model. The concept may not be...
Innovation comes in pairs. It isn’t about genius or eureka moments, it is about collaboration and good partnerships. This is the main idea of this article written by Rich Karlgaard and...
Blendhub´s Corporate Social Responsibility program enabled children´s wishes to come true as toys last Christmas “One idea, one toy” is a project sponsored by Blendhub and carried out by...
The model of Open Innovation is hugely beneficial in Pharma industry. Many of the reasons for this are highlighted in this article, written by Roy F. Waldron, a pharmaceutical executive....
We often talk about Open Innovation as something theoretical, so I invite you to read this report by Erin Millar, from The Globe and Mail, which I link here. It has a very revealing title: “How...
I found an interesting article titled: “Finland is about to start using crowdsourcing to create new laws”. It talks about the use of technology in collaborative models for a more direct...
This Ted Talk by Jason Fried, author of Rework and co-founder of 37 sinalgs, starts with a question that I’m sure everyone has asked themselves at some moment: Why people don’t really...
In this video Lynda Gratton, authors of The Shift, explains how can we face our future at work. She considers that future is already here, that it is full of paradoxes or contradictions and that...
This Ted Talk I post is a bit old, however in my opinion, it remains extremely current. Charles Leadbeater is the author of We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production: The Power of Mass. In...
“Traditional Strategy is Dead. Welcome to the #SocialEra”. This is the categorical affirmation that Nilofer Merchant, specialist in business strategy, makes in the article about...
Have you ever heard about Wikinomics? It is a macroeconomic model developed by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams (Wikinomics, 2006). They first talked about this concept six years ago when...
Open Innovation is most often associated with technological and industrial developments. In recent years, this model has provided significant achievements in many social fields such as the fight...
Internet and social networking have decisively changed personal relationships between consumers and companies. Doc Searls, co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, believes we are entering a new era...
On the 24 and 25 of September 2012, Raúl Fernández, Inma Illan and myself enjoyed a fantastic trip and great experience in Vevey where we attend the seminar “Nestlé – a business model...
What makes some organizations or leaders so successful? According to Simon Sinek, an expert in strategic communication and leadership, it is an attitude. It depends mostly on their passion and...
