Traditional innovation management is costly and inefficient. With ideas pouring in from startups, consumers, and partners, manual processes struggle to keep up—slowing innovation, increasing costs, and overloading teams with low-impact ideas.
The right open innovation management tools can automate the sorting and evaluation. Research suggests that digitizing information-intensive processes can reduce costs by up to 90%; a benefit companies can realize by implementing open innovation tools.
To select these tools, you need clear answers to questions such as,
- Does it offer comprehensive project management or specialize in only parts of the process?
- Can it easily integrate with the systems already in use?
- Does it meet the team’s operational needs, from external and internal collaboration to reporting?
- Is the interface easy enough for team-wide adoption?
- Does it ensure data security and protect intellectual property?
GreyB analyzed over 20 tools and platforms used by open innovation teams in various categories, including idea sourcing, evaluation, team collaboration, and knowledge management, and handpicked 5 tools that can streamline open innovation projects. These tools will speed up your innovation by simplifying task assignments between cross-teams, tracking project progress, and integrating smoothly with existing workflows.
Access the complete list of 20+ tools in various categories analyzed by GreyB to speed up your open innovation process. Fill out the form below and get the copy delivered to your inbox.
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1. Wazoku Crowd ensures you identify innovations that solve core challenges
| Website | https://www.wazokucrowd.com/ |
| Services | Crowdsourcing, Startup Scouting, Technology Scouting, External Collaboration, Cloud Labor, Collective Intelligence, Idea Management |
| Notable Clients | Novartis, NASA Tournament Lab, Enel, Aramco, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD), Linamar, Doolittle Institute |
The Wazoku Crowd assists open innovation teams in identifying high-quality ideas from the large volume of submissions. Organizations post their challenges, and experts worldwide submit ideas and solutions within a set timeframe. Participants collaborate, refine ideas, and provide real-time feedback. This approach brings fresh perspectives and solutions that internal teams might miss.
The platform is built on two decades of Problem: Solution data, third-party sources, global start-ups, and market experts. Unlike most start-up databases focusing on financial data, The Wazoku Marketplace helps you understand if a start-up’s product can solve real problems.
In 2020, Wazoku Crowd expanded by acquiring InnoCentive, a popular open innovation firm in the US.
2. NineSights helps companies evaluate open innovation submissions and the solution providers
| Website | https://ninesights.ninesigma.com/servlet/hype/IMT |
| Type of Services | Open Innovation, Technology Scouting, Startup Scouting |
| Notable Clients | QRDI Council, Omnipreneurship Awards, Polymeris, RHI Magnesita, BIC, BMW, NASA Tournament Lab, Nestle, Siemens, PMI Science, GSK, Nike, Shiseido |
NineSights is a platform that links businesses with experts worldwide to help solve tech issues or collaborate on new solutions. Companies can post challenges, and NineSigma creates the requests, evaluates submissions, and connects businesses with suitable solution providers. They manage the process from start to finish.
The platform’s methodology is based on insights from over 10,000 open innovation projects, providing a structured approach to addressing challenges. NineSigma’s firewall keeps information safe, protecting businesses from sharing confidential details with solution providers.
Their Client Galleries highlight the specific and urgent needs of various companies, while Thematic Galleries focus on projects aligned with scientific themes. They include projects for multiple clients (often run anonymously) and feature prize-based challenges.
3. SLATE for intellectual property research and management
| Website | https://www.greyb.com/slate/ |
| Type of Services | Patent Portfolio Management, Comprehensive Patent & Technology Insights, Intelligent Patent Monitoring & Alerts, Curated Data for Strategic Decision-Making, Actionable Trends and Innovation Tracking, Advanced Patent Search & Analytics |
| Notable Clients | Coca-Cola, Saint-Gobain, Duracell, Natura &Co, Kraft Heinz, Fonterra |
Slate makes managing your intellectual property (IP) simple and efficient by organizing all your IP data in an AI-powered database. It replaces spreadsheets, email chains, and multiple tools by automatically gathering, analyzing, and managing your patents.
The platform helps organize, evaluate, and optimize your IP portfolio by managing patents, trademarks, and innovations. This makes finding gaps, uncovering growth opportunities, and maximizing ROI easier—all in one tool.
Slate also helps you identify and evaluate high-potential licensing opportunities with detailed data insights, ensuring smart IP commercialization.
In 2023, Slate won the SIIA Codie Award for Best Content Management Platform, highlighting its excellence in helping businesses manage and grow their IP.
SlatePro, the AI-powered assistant
The AI assistant, SlatePro, speeds up your research process by answering complex questions on niche topics. It analyzes millions of research papers and patents in seconds to deliver critical information.
The tool supports innovation by helping you discover novel ingredients and materials for unique product development. It identifies sustainable and innovative cross-industry solutions tailored to your needs.
It can answer key questions like what problems competitors are solving and which technologies are driving their innovations.
Have questions about your innovation niche?
4. InspireIp to manage your idea bank
| Website | https://inspireip.com/ |
| Products | Idea Assist℠, IP Assist℠ |
| Integrations | Symphony, IPfolio, Microsoft Teams, Trello, Yammer, Jira, Slack, Asana, Sharepoint |
| Services | Innovation Lifecycle Management, Invention Disclosure Management, Patent Lifecycle Control, Idea Management, Employee Engagement, Invention Scouting, Prior-art Search, Counselling Engagement |
InspireIP helps businesses speed up their innovation processes with two key tools: Idea Assist and IP Assist℠.
Idea Assist fosters creativity by enabling organizations to capture and develop ideas from employees. It helps in the easy collection, evaluation, and collaboration of ideas. By simplifying the process of submitting and refining ideas, the platform ensures every idea has a chance to become actionable.
IP Assist helps innovation managers with intellectual property management by providing tools to assess, track, and manage inventor submissions throughout the innovation cycle. From effortless automated invention disclosures to AI-driven insights and real-time analytics, the platform handles the details so your team can focus on creating.
5. Miro helps remote teams brainstorm, ideate, and develop solutions together
| Website | https://community.miro.com/ |
| Integrations | Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Atlassian Suite (Jira, Confluence), Slack, Asana, Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud, Zoom, Notion, Coda |
| Type of Services | Diagramming, Mind Mapping, Project Management, Digital Collaboration, Online whiteboarding, Wireframing, Real-time data Visualization, Workshop Facilitation, Built-in support for Agile Practices, Interactive presentations |
| Notable Clients | PepsiCo, WebMD, Prudential, Salesforce, Adobe, Kimberly-Clark, HP, Fujitsu, Moody’s, ASOS, Comcast, CVS Health, Hearst, Johnson & Johnson, Foot Locker |
Miro, formerly RealtimeBoard, is a digital collaboration platform facilitating remote and distributed team communication and project management. It is an ideal tool for open innovation projects with stakeholders from different organizations, geographies, and functions.
Miro enables collaboration with external users through two primary methods:
- Visitors: External users can access the board without registering by sharing a public link. Depending on your plan, you can set viewing, commenting, or editing permissions.
- Guests: For more secure collaboration, you can invite external users to sign in via email. This method ensures that only invited individuals can access the board.
Miro’s flexible canvas lets teams create mind maps, flowcharts, and frameworks. The visual nature makes tracking progress easy and identifies areas for improvement.
Pre-built templates for brainstorming, decision-making, and prioritization save time and ensure structured sessions, driving faster results. Further, its inclusive design ensures that even non-technical contributors can participate in the innovation process.
The platform stores notes, diagrams, and decisions from each session.
This centralized repository preserves ideas, tracks progress, and makes learning easily accessible to all stakeholders, ensuring continuity in innovation projects.
Access the complete list of 20+ tools in various categories analyzed by GreyB to speed up your open innovation process. Fill out the form below and get the copy delivered to your inbox.
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Conclusion
Innovation doesn’t need to be tiring—especially with the right tools in your corner. From managing intellectual property to fostering team collaboration, these tools address key challenges faced in open innovation management, ensuring proper project progress tracking, managing cross-functional teams, and data security.
While these tools can significantly improve innovation turnaround times, GreyB’s research experts ensure your best ideas are market-ready. Validate your innovative solutions against the core challenge, required expertise, scalability, compliance, market feasibility, and seamless integration into your existing process. Talk to our experts today.
Authored by: Tamanpreet Kaur, Market Research
