Why Communication is Central to Innovation
Innovation is not only about creating new products or processes—it’s about sharing, aligning, and mobilizing people around them. Without effective communication, innovation risks staying invisible or misunderstood.
In 2013, a French corporate values index revealed that 34% of companies listed innovation as their top value, ahead of quality and customer satisfaction. Today, innovation has become not just a performance driver but also a core identity marker for organizations.
Yet for innovation—especially open innovation—to thrive, communication must work on two fronts:
- Internally, to engage employees in embracing both in-house and external ideas.
- Externally, to make the company visible in its ecosystem and attract partners, startups, researchers, and customers.
Internal Communication: From “Not Invented Here” to “Proudly Found Elsewhere”
One of the main barriers to open innovation is the “Not Invented Here” (NIH) syndrome—the tendency of employees to resist external ideas. Effective internal communication helps shift this mindset towards “Proudly Found Elsewhere” (PFE), where employees value and champion ideas no matter where they originate.
Why This Matters ?
- Collaboration readiness: Employees must be prepared to integrate external technologies, practices, or insights into daily work.
- Cultural openness: Communicating stories of successful external collaborations helps normalize the use of outside contributions.
- Employee pride: By framing external ideas as an opportunity to make better solutions together, companies foster pride rather than resistance.
Corporate Examples
- Procter & Gamble’s “Connect + Develop” program is a benchmark. By openly communicating internally about the benefits of sourcing ideas from outside, P&G overcame NIH syndrome and achieved a 50% increase in innovation productivity.
- TotalEnergies uses internal conferences, intranet platforms, and innovation spaces to showcase both internal and external innovation projects, embedding pride in collaboration.
- Google shares narratives of acquisitions and partnerships (e.g., Android, YouTube) as part of its broader innovation story, demonstrating the value of external inputs.
External Communication: Making the Company Visible in its Ecosystem
Innovation also depends on how effectively a company communicates outwardly. To fully benefit from open innovation, organizations must signal their presence and openness to the wider ecosystem—customers, startups, universities, and even competitors.
Why External Visibility Matters ?
- Attracting contributors: Startups and research institutions are more likely to approach companies that clearly communicate their innovation needs and ambitions.
- Reputation as an innovator: Publicly showcasing innovation enhances brand value and trust.
- Ecosystem collaboration: By being visible, companies position themselves as natural partners in innovation clusters and alliances.
Examples in Practice
- Unilever Foundry publicly invites startups to co-develop solutions, making clear its innovation challenges and areas of collaboration.
- LEGO Ideas communicates directly with its fan base, turning user-generated concepts into commercial products.
- Tesla uses product launches and public statements as communication events that mobilize not only customers but also suppliers, developers, and investors.
In short, external communication is not only about marketing innovation to consumers—it is about making the company discoverable and attractive within its innovation ecosystem.
Best Practices for Effective Innovation Communication
- Internal: Build a “Proudly Found Elsewhere” Culture
- Share success stories of external contributions.
- Recognize employees who champion external partnerships.
- Reframe collaboration as a source of pride and opportunity.
- External: Make Innovation Needs Visible
- Publish innovation roadmaps or calls for collaboration.
- Use conferences, LinkedIn, and dedicated platforms to communicate innovation priorities.
- Actively highlight co-created products and partnerships.
- Create Two-Way Dialogue
- Internally: Encourage feedback loops where employees can question, adapt, and adopt new ideas.
- Externally: Build channels (innovation portals, open calls, incubators) where the ecosystem can contribute.
The Future of Innovation Communication
Looking forward, innovation communication will evolve in two major directions:
- Internally: Companies will increasingly focus on dismantling NIH mindsets, embedding a culture of Proudly Found Elsewhere (PFE) that celebrates co-creation and external partnerships.
- Externally: Visibility in ecosystems will be critical, as industries move toward innovation clusters where collaboration across sectors becomes the norm.
In the age of open innovation, communication is the bridge between creativity and collaboration. It ensures employees are ready to embrace ideas from outside, and it ensures the ecosystem knows where and how to contribute.
Conclusion
Innovation without communication risks stagnation. Internal communication must go beyond informing—it must embark employees in a mindset of “Proudly Found Elsewhere (PFE)”, celebrating ideas regardless of their origin. External communication must go beyond promotion—it must make the company visible and accessible to its ecosystem, inviting contributions and partnerships.
In short: internal communication creates openness, external communication creates opportunity. Together, they are the foundation of successful open innovation.
