IBM Invests $100 Million in Collaborative Innovation Ideas

IBM Invests $100 Million in Collaborative Innovation Ideas

IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Samuel J. Palmisano today announced that the company will invest $100 million over the next two years to pursue ten new businesses generated by InnovationJam, an unprecedented experiment in collaborative innovation held earlier this year. The largest on-line brainstorming session ever, InnovationJam brought together more than 150,000 people from 104 countries, including IBM employees, family members, universities, business partners and clients from 67 companies. Over two 72-hour sessions, participants posted more than 46,000 ideas as they explored IBM’s most advanced Research technologies and considered their application to real-world problems and emerging business opportunities.

“Collaborative innovation models require you to trust the creativity and intelligence of your employees, your clients and other members of your innovation network,” said Palmisano. “We opened up our labs, said to the world, ‘Here are our crown jewels, have at them’. The Jam — and programs like it – are greatly accelerating our ability to innovate in meaningful ways for business and society.”

Speaking today at a global “town hall” meeting in front of more than 6,000 IBM China employees, Palmisano revealed a portfolio of near-, mid- and long-term initiatives that will require new models of development and co-creation to bring to market.

Read the complete Press Release