"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
“Open Innovation Playbook” is a humble creation by Sundar Raj Venkatakrishnan and Saravana Mani, who are passionate innovation practitioners. Being inspired by the power of Open Innovation (OI) and having worked extensively in the space of corporate innovation and the innovation ecosystem, the authors have synthesized their first-hand insights on the dynamics of launching and institutionalizing Open Innovation in an organizational setup. In this book, the authors take the reader on a journey filled with:
- Uncovering the landscape of corporate innovation,
- Passionately enrolling every reader to appreciate the “why and what” of ecosystem-driven innovation,
- Explaining the “how” of OI by meticulously guiding the reader through the different pillars of the architecture of open innovation,
- Describing what it takes to establish OI as a practice in an organization,
- Inviting every practitioner to be present to the fact that innovation is as much about one’s mindset as it is about strategy, skill set, principles, practices and tools.
This book is comprehensive and authentic to the spirit and richness of innovation. Staying true to their passion towards the subject, the authors invite you to consume this book and be moved by the possibilities of Open Innovation.
V. Sundar Raj, Saravana Mani
Sundar Raj Venkatakrishnan believes that his purpose is to innovate and facilitate others to innovate. He is an alumnus of Erehwon Innovation Consulting and an ardent practitioner of Orbit Shifting Innovation.
In the broad realm of Corporate Innovation Management, he has worked in areas of culture (mindset and skill-set), design research, strategy, innovation cell, IMS and open innovation. He has facilitated teams across industries such as the auto, retail, power and manufacturing industries. His area of interest includes establishing corporate innovation architecture and institutionalizing innovation. Sundar participated in Jagriti Yatra as a facilitator, which he considers as a life-changing experience. He did his mechanical engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and he is an alumnus of XIME, where he did his PGDM in Finance.
Sundar a Coimbatore-born, musically-inclined Tamizhan. He can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarrajv/.
Saravana Mani has donned multiple hats during his career of two decades. He started as a corporate employee in India and the US. Later, he found his calling—driving innovation—when he took up entrepreneurship and founded multiple companies. Staying true to his passion, he is now helping large enterprises establish open innovation as a practice.
Born and raised in Mysore India, Saravana is a graduate from MIT Sloan, where he specialized in innovation, IIM-B and NIE. He is on the board of multiple institutions and startup bodies and, till date, he has trained more than 3,000 entrepreneurs across the world. Recently, he was invited by the secretary general of SAARC to mentor entrepreneurs across SAARC countries.
He lives in Bangalore and spends his time helping startups, reading books and globetrotting. He can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/saravanamani/
