Tim Kidd is an innovator with over 20 years of experience working in large corporations. He began his career at DSM, where he held various positions spanning from research and development to new business development. Eventually, Tim became an innovation coach, providing guidance and support to DSM's top innovation teams and projects. In 2021, He embarked on a new venture by joining Stahl, where he is currently working to establish an open innovation program to forge connections and partnerships with external parties that possess technologies and capabilities complementary to Stahl's own. This initiative aims to accelerate growth and bring Stahl's strategic ambitions to fruition in sustainable, high-performance waves across diverse markets and applications.

Today, Tim joins me to discuss the importance of connecting with external parties to solve problems and achieve limitless growth. He shares why he believes that open innovation is critical for innovation success and explains how to leverage external resources and capabilities to solve challenges and create value. He suggests ways to identify external partners and address the misconception that innovation is a chaotic process. We talk about the power of quick wins and how they demonstrate the value of open innovation. He offers advice to companies on formulating a strategy or approach and reveals why a C-level buy-in is critical for open innovation success. We also discuss who should be the innovators in a company, the challenges of reaching out to external resources, and the rewards of networking. 

"Open innovation is about bringing an ecosystem of partners together that can solve the problems and the challenges that you have." - Tim Kidd

This week on Innovation Talks:

●     The importance of in-person connection for innovation

●     Tim's journey into innovation starting with his Ph.D. in Chemistry

●     Tim's transition into new business development at DSM

●     The importance of problem-solution fit and product-market fit

●     Why you need an ecosystem of partners in open innovation

●     Looking outside your value chain for solutions

●     How to define a common innovation language and use a stage-gate approach to track progress

●     The challenges of implementing open innovation in an organization

●     Engaging with unsupportive team members

●     Asking “Why?” five times to understand objections

●     Getting C-level buy-in and support

●     Getting people excited about open innovation

●     The value of external partners

Resources Mentioned:

●     The 5 Whys Strategy

Connect with Tim Kidd:

●     Tim Kidd on LinkedIn

●     Stahl

●     Stahl on LinkedIn

●     Tim Kidd on Twitter

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

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