Despite a multitude of initiatives in cross-sector collaboration and open innovation, businesses still struggle to support the development of game-changing ideas. The authors argue that the solution to this problem starts by recognizing an important truth: Innovation is about more than an idea-it is a long, collaborative journey. Innovation is more likely to succeed when it is a curated process in which an intermediary takes responsibility for sparking and sustaining collaboration among the people involved. In this article, the authors demonstrate how intermediaries can support collaboration throughout the entire innovation journey. First, they provide opportunities for innovators to make connections. They don't simply bring people together; they carefully select participants and curate the experience to generate the best results. Second, they help innovators develop relationships, using structured follow-ups and offering holistic mentoring. And third, they help entrepreneurs sustain their relationships and manage the team over time as the collaborations evolve and team members change.

The natural experiment forced on the world by the coronavirus demonstrates that the academics and tech visionaries who have been talking since the 1980s about the possibilities of remote work were not exaggerating. After months of working remotely, we have all learned that most tasks are accomplished and most meetings go just fine without the office. But that, the authors warn, doesn't mean companies should suddenly abandon their workplaces. Going to the office, they argue, has never been just about work. And technology won't make socializing less dependent on direct interpersonal contact anytime soon. In this article they describe the important social functions of an office: It's where people build trust through personal interaction, learn the nuances of their job, and build and maintain organizational culture. And it's through random in-person encounters between people from different functions and cultures that many of the most innovative business ideas are born. The authors conclude by showing how design, technology, and management practices can be used to make tomorrow's offices more effective as social, learning, and innovation spaces.

In the midst of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was unfolding, OpenIDEO - an online open innovation platform focused on design-driven solutions to social issues - rapidly launched a new challenge to improve access to health information, empower communities to stay safe during the COVID-19 crisis, and inspire global leaders to communicate effectively. OpenIDEO was particularly suited to challenges which required cross-system or sector-wide collaboration due to its focus on social impact and ecosystem design, but its leadership pondered how they could continue to improve virtual collaboration and to share their insights from nearly a decade of running online challenges. Conceived as an exercise of disruptive digital innovation, OpenIDEO successfully created a strong open innovation community, but how could they sustain - or even improve - their support to community members and increase the social impact of their online challenges in the coming years?

In a 2018 Workforce Institute survey of 3,000 managers across eight industrialized nations, the majority of respondents described artificial intelligence as a valuable productivity tool. But respondents to that survey also expressed fears that AI would take their jobs. They are not alone. The Guardian recently reported that in the UK "more than 6 million workers fear being replaced by machines." AI's advantages can be cast in a dark light: Why would humans be needed when machines can do a better job? To allay such fears, employers must set AI up to succeed rather than to fail. The authors draw on their own and others' research and consulting on AI and information systems implementation, along with organizational studies of innovation and work practices, to present a four-phase approach to implementing AI. It allows organizations to cultivate people's trust--a key condition for adoption--and to work toward a distributed cognitive system in which humans and artificial intelligence both continually improve.

The case describes OpenIDEO, an online offshoot of IDEO, one of the world's leading product design firms. OpenIDEO leverages IDEO's innovative design process and an online community to create solutions for social issues. Emphasis is placed on comparing the IDEO and OpenlDEO processes using real-world project examples. For IDEO this includes the redesign of Air New Zealand's long haul flights. For OpenIDEO this includes increasing bone marrow donor registrations and improving personal sanitation in Ghana. In addition, the importance of fostering a collaborative online environment is explored.

Managers once discouraged casual interaction among employees, viewing it as a distraction from "real work." Today we know that chance encounters on the job promote cooperation and innovation, and companies craft their floor plans and cultures with this in mind. So why do their careful, well-intentioned efforts often go awry? Common sense, it turns out, is a poor guide when it comes to designing for interaction. Work spaces inspire informal encounters only if they properly balance three factors that have both physical and social aspects: (1) Proximity: Spaces should naturally bring people together; (2) Privacy: People must be able to control access to their conversations and themselves; (3) Permission: The social purpose of the space needs to be evident, and the organizational culture should signal that nonwork interactions are not just sanctioned but encouraged. Creating the right conditions is challenging enough in the physical world; doing it in a virtual environment is even harder. But asking employees to set Skype, IM, and other applications to indicate their availability can replicate a sense of proximity online. Setting clear policies governing access to electronic communications helps convey reassurance that privacy is protected. And leaving video links and virtual offices open promotes the feeling that geographically disparate groups are welcome to engage with one another casually, just as they might in a real-world common space. There's no simple formula for balancing proximity, privacy, and permission in either the physical or virtual spheres. Managers who grasp the fundamentals and design spaces with balance in mind, however, will be better equipped to understand and predict the effects of different spaces on interactions, and to learn from their successes and inevitable mistakes.

Xerox has been developing and implementing knowledge management (KM) systems since 1996 and has continued to do so despite the company's hard times and KM's tarnished image following the dotcom bust. Xerox wagered that 'knowledge' was the natural, higher role for 'the document' in the workplace, and the bet is paying off. The case examines four KM projects: Eureka, its first and best knowledge management project; CodeX, the open- source software sharing platform; Angelo, the call-centre solution; and its consultancy, Xerox Connect.