Managing Open Innovation: Lessons from Harnessing Silicon Valley

A panel discussion on Managing Open Innovation: Lessons from Harnessing Silicon Valley was held on Monday, May 23 at Stanford University's Bechtel Conference Center. Panelists for the event were Joanna Drake Earl, General Partner, Core Ventures Group, Gen Isayama, Co-Founder and CEO, World Innovation Lab, and David Swanson, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, SAP SuccessFactors. The discussion’s interlocutor was Kenji Kushida, Shorenstein APARC Japan Program Research Associate and Silicon Valley-New Japan Project Leader.

The panel brought together expertise from multiple vantages-- SAP from Germany, which has a major presence in Silicon Valley, World Innovation Lab (WiL) which works with large Japanese companies in a variety of ways, and Core Venture Group, a boutique San Francisco venture capital firm and explored the broad perspectives and specific insights on how large outside firms can successfully harness Silicon Valley.