EarlyBirds, creator of the Open Innovation Ecosystem which can be found at earlybirds.io, has released an article about how their company can help advanced manufacturing and production companies close the innovation gap. Most companies have been able to adapt to the unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by leveraging and deploying innovative technologies across factory sites. Manufacturing and supply chain leaders now need to enhance their efforts even further in order to remain competitive in the current environment. This need for change is being driven even further by a number of factors.

For one thing, the need for change in the advanced manufacturing and production spaces is being driven by new customer needs and a changed demand environment. The pandemic changed a lot of things in people’s lives, which also changed the kinds of products they want to buy and the services they need to use. Climate change, and the absolute imperative to create a net-zero emissions world, further requires companies to innovate their production practices significantly to do their part in reducing the disastrous impacts of global climate change. Finally, the digital transformation is here to stay, and companies need to innovate to participate in the digital age.

The new challenges being posed by consumers, the social order, and the state of the world require business leaders to go beyond operations, productivity and efficiency improvements. It involves leveraging their investments in advanced manufacturing to not only optimize the old operating models, but also to innovate and unlock entirely new business models that create and deliver value to all stakeholders. This includes not just the companies and their customers, but also employees, society, and the environment. The founders of EarlyBirds recognized that there was a gap in the market to address the needs of manufacturing and production companies for enterprise wide innovation services that can help them quickly solve challenges, seize new opportunities, and adapt to the new world of business.

To help companies close this gap in innovation needs, EarlyBirds created two core capabilities. The first is their Open Innovation Ecosystem, which enables large companies that need innovative solutions to connect with startup, scaleup and mature companies that have the innovative solutions to they need. In addition to this platform, which already tracks over 4 million innovative companies, EarlyBirds created their Explorer and Challenger innovation programs. These programs allow large companies to enlist the assistance of EarlyBirds and their network of innovators and subject matter experts to deliver the programs and outcomes needed to their companies. If companies have enough resources, they can even be trained to deliver these programs themselves, or be supported in adopting a hybrid model with their own programs.

The Explorer Program is designed for businesses that need innovation as a service to supplement their existing innovation programs, or to conduct innovation projects. The Challenger Program, on the other hand, is meant to solve just one business or technical challenge at a time and allows companies to search for relevant innovators that meet their business, technical, commercial and business risk requirements. Both of these programs help early adopters of innovative technology find the subject matter experts and independent consultants they need to solve their problems with confidence. The Explorer and Challenger programs can especially be applied to address the drivers of change in the current economic climate, or to seize opportunities that arise with shifting customer demands, the creation of Net Zero targets, and the relentless progress of digital transformation.

EarlyBirds created their Open Innovation Ecosystem and the Explorer and Challenger programs to help large companies that want to adopt innovative changes to their operation find the innovative companies and subject matter experts who can help them make that change happen. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the work that EarlyBirds does, whether they’re an innovative startup, a organisation looking for innovative solutions to their problems, or subject matter experts who want to provide guidance to many companies, can contact the company or visit their website for more information.