iNNpulsa Colombia – CO4.

Sector: Government

Our brief: Can open innovation promote economic growth in Colombia?

What we did: On behalf of the Colombian Government 100%Open designed and ran a global open innovation programme called CO4 for 11 major Colombian organisations, from ship-building and finance to white goods and confectionery. 100%Open and local partners Enlace created and ran 31 challenges to find new technologies and partners. CO4 included collaboration skills development for the Colombian companies and the 100%Open airlock process to create mutual trust and viable partnerships.

What happened: Over the course of 18 months we used our communications team and Innovation Radar service to build a global network of potential partners. We ran 10 national launch events across Colombia and publicised the challenges globally. Our Discovery Platform received nearly 400 high quality submissions from Asia and Europe as well as across South America. Each of the 11 Colombian organisations forged one or more valuable new partnerships with entrepreneurs or new suppliers and the country now has a thriving open innovation sector.