In a prior century, high-tech innovation was largely a top-down affair, simply because the price of entry was so high. At the turn of the century, however, the rise of consumer technology, open source technology, and the cloud infrastructure needed to support open development have all reversed this dynamic. Today technology innovation is more likely to come from the edge than from the core, bottoms up rather than top down. Still, to complete the loop, to scale, and to monetize, eventually the top and the bottom must connect. In this talk, Author and Technology Analyst Geoffrey Moore will look at these different models for technology innovation and suggest the emergence of a hybrid model, relying on both top-down and bottom-up development to achieve sustainable growth. See Geoffrey Moore's Edge Presentation: http://www.akamai.com/html/custconf/edgetv.html#geoffrey-moore-open-innovation The Akamai Edge Conference is a gathering of the industry revolutionaries who are committed to creating leading edge experiences, realizing the full potential of what is possible in a Faster Forward World. From customer innovation stories, industry panels, technical labs, partner and government forums to Web security and developers' tracks, there’s something for everyone at Edge 2013. Learn more at http://www.akamai.com/edge

1. Open Innovation
Bottom-Up Meets Top-Down:
Inventing at the Edge, Scaling at the Core
Akamai Edge13
Customer Conference
October 9, 2013

2. Bottom Up
Inventing at the Edge
2

3. The Technology
Cool
3

4. The Problem
Interesting
4

5. The Cause
Inspiring
5

6. The Market
Big
6

7. The Entrepreneurs
Bold
7

8. An Example
Akamai
• Cool Technology
• Network algorithms
• Interesting Problem
• QoS on the Worldwide Web
• Inspiring Cause
• Transform the experience
• Big Market
• Everything digital
• Bold Entrepreneurs
• Danny and Tom
8

9. Top Down
Scaling at the Core
9

10. Scaling Innovation
The Return on Innovation Model
Differentiation
Neutralization
Productivity
10

11. Differentiation
Innovating to Create a Unique Position of Power
Differentiation
*
*
Competitor 1
YOU
*
Competitor 2
*
Competitor 3
Competitive Set
Play for separation
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Leverage your
unmatchable
capability
to create an
unmatchable
offer

12. Neutralization
Innovating to Meet Market Norms
Neutralization
*
Competitor 1
*
Competitor 2
*
YOU
*
*
Competitor 3
by reaching
“good enough”
fast enough
Competitive Set
Play for speed
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Neutralize a
competitor’s
differentiation

13. Optimization
Innovating to Drive Greater Efficiencies
YOU
*
Optimization
Competitor 1
*
Competitor 2
*
*
Optimize behind
the scenes
Competitor 3
Competitive Set
Price
Deflation
Play for money
to free up scarce
resources

14. Three Innovation Playbooks
Differentiation
Core Metric
Standard to Meet
Test Question
Neutralization
Separation
Time to market
Cost
Unmatchable
Good enough
Best in class
How far?
How fast?
How much?
Optimization
These playbooks have conflicting goals
Do not combine them
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15. No Return
How Would-Be Innovators Waste Their R&D
Differentiation
Failed
Attempts
Neutralization
Optimization
Waste
Sources of Waste:
• Differentiation projects that don’t go far enough
• Neutralization projects that go too far and/or are too slow
• Optimization projects that don’t confront sacred cows
• Blended projects that never reach a tipping point

16. Recap
• Bottom-Up Innovation
•
•
•
•
•
Cool technology
Interesting problem
Inspiring cause
Big market
Bold entrepreneurs
• Top-Down Innovation
•
•
•
•
•
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Differentiation
Neutralization
Optimization
Keep them separate
Avoid waste

17. gmoore@geoffreyamoore.com
twitter.com/geoffreyamoore
http://linkd.in/YnBwig
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