In the past two months three teams of innovation master students from the Rotterdam School of Management have been working on different research projects in the area of Open Innovation for the Unilever R&D facilities in Vlaardingen. This course came out of two core ideas of the ICCL: One is to anchor research and teaching in the core disciplines, like social psychology, and the other is to closely engage with practice. The topics the students have been investigating were chosen by representatives of R&D and innovation management units at Unilever, encompassing strategic questions in the field of open innovation.
The students have interviewed a variety of Unilever employees, from the shop floor to the top management, and gained in-depth insight into structures, projects, processes and tools in place at the R&D unit. Based on these interview data as well as on the research hypotheses they generated from the academic literature, they delivered extensive research reports in which they suggested new solutions for tackling some of the most pressing questions in the field of open innovation.
Today each team presented their ideas to representatives of the company as well as their fellow students and teachers in a two-hour session.
After the presentations the Unilever team was given the opportunity to comment on the suggestions made and to choose their favourite solution presented. Graham Cross, Director of Innovation Acceleration and Commercial Alliances at Unilever, handed over the prizes to the winning team, assisted by his colleague Hilbert Bruinsslot.
Mr. Cross praised the quality of the presentations and was particularly pleased with the innovative approaches the teams had come up with. He emphasized the importance of an "external" view on the company in order to avoid beaten paths and recognize new approaches to tackle new challenges. The students had not only presented interesting new approaches, but also succeeded in letting the people at Unilever view their own company with different eyes.
