Outline

SwarmCreativity introduces to the business world a powerful new concept – Collaborative Innovation Networks, or COINs. The author's aim is to make the concept of COINs as ubiquitous among managers as any of the methodologies typically employed in businesses today to enhance quality and competitive advantage. The difference, though, is that the concept of COINs is nothing like these methodologies.
COINs have been around for hundreds of years. Many of us have already been a part of a Collaborative Innovation Network without knowing it. What makes COINs so relevant today, though, is that the concept has reached its tipping point – thanks to the communication capabilities of the Internet and the World Wide Web.
A COIN is a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a collective vision, enabled by technology to collaborate in achieving a common goal – an innovation – by sharing ideas, information, and work. Working this way is key to successful innovation, and it is no exaggeration to state that COINs are the most productive engines of innovation ever.
This book explores why COINs are so important to business success in the new century. It explains the traits that characterize COIN members and COIN behavior. It makes the case for why businesses ought to be rushing to uncover their COINs and nurture them, and provides tools for building organizations that are more creative, productive, and efficient by applying principles of creative collaboration, knowledge sharing, and social networking. Through real-life examples of COINs in several business sectors, the book shows how to leverage COINs to develop successful products in R&D, grow better customer relationships, establish better project management processes, and build higher-performing teams. There is even a method offered for locating, analyzing, and measuring the impact of COINs on an organization. (The book is, in a sense, two books in one, with six chapters aimed primarily at managers and three appendices presenting tools aimed more at “techies” who might be assigned to implement COIN-related activities in an organization.)
In short, this book answers four key questions: Why are Collaborative Innovation Networks better at innovation than conventional organizations? What are the key elements of COINs? Who are the people that participate in COINs, and how do they become COIN members? And how does an organization transform itself into a Collaborative Innovation Network?

Introduction
At the Tipping Point
Innovate – Collaborate – Communicate
The book's introduction offers a general definition of Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs), begins to lay out the motivation for why they matter to businesses, and presents the organization of the book. It also tells, very briefly, the story of how the World Wide Web evolved from the original visionary idea in the 1940s of linking information together electronically. This story introduces the concepts of innovation, collaboration, and communication.

Chapter 1
COINs and their Benefits
What Makes a Coin?
COINs Deliver Benefits to Organizations
COINs Benefit Individuals
Transforming Organizations to Support COINs
Chapter 1 presents some very brief “teasers” to expand the concept of a collaborative innovation network, and then explores the specific benefits that organizations and individuals can accrue through COINs. These benefits are linked to the cases that will be presented in Chapter 5. The chapter concludes with a graphical introduction to the idea of organizational transformation to foster a COIN-supportive environment.

Chapter 2
Collaborative Innovation through Swarm Creativity
Swarm Intelligence for Social Insects
What is Swarm Creativity?
Wikipedia – Swarm Creativity Thriving Online
Open Source Software – The Advantage of Swarm Creativity
More Examples of Swarm Creativity
Why Collaborative Innovation is So Powerful
Innovation by Collaboration
Familiar Examples of the COIN-Driven Innovation Process
Collaboration Between Innovators is the Key
Chapter 2 presents the admittedly odd-sounding concept of “swarm creativity,” beginning with the concept of swarm intelligence as observed in insects and drawing the parallels between social insects and collaborators in innovation networks. Through examples, some business-specific and others more general, how swarm creativity works is explored. The thriving community of Wikipedia (an encyclopedia on the Web) is used to present the key role played by Internet and Web technologies in making swarm creativity something businesses can use to their benefit. The open source software movement provides the example for the specific advantages of swarm creativity in the innovation process. Through brief introductions to COINs at DaimlerChrysler and Union Bank of Switzerland (cases expanded in Chapter 5), which both resulted in highly successful and financially lucrative innovations, how swarm creativity works in a business environment is illustrated. The bulk of the second half of Chapter 2 explores innovation by collaboration, putting it in an historical context that includes Leonardo da Vinci's network of collaborators and the work of early computer innovators.

Chapter 3
The DNA of COINs: Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication
Collaborators in Today's Knowledge Networks
Marco Polo: Collaborative Communicator of Innovations
Collaboration on the Internet is Transparent
Collaboration on the Internet is Honest
Low-Tech with High Impact: Campaigning for Kenya's Parliament
Microsoft – Building the Digital Nervous System
SHARE – Linking Swiss Entrepreneurs into the Boston Innovation Network
Chapter 3 uses examples from history to show how creativity, collaboration, and communication – in networks of people – have advanced civilization through to some of the greatest innovations of all time. Each example from history illustrates one of the key elements of COIN DNA. The chapter begins, briefly, with how Homo sapiens eclipsed Neanderthals, and what this tells us about collaboration. Other examples from history include the Fugger banking empire of the German Renaissance period, Marco Polo, and the Rothschilds. The chapter discusses the traits that make collaboration on the Internet so powerful. Three additional examples – a campaign for the Kenyan parliament, Microsoft (both positive and negative aspects), and a “consul” that links entrepreneurs in the United States and Switzerland – expand the discussion of DNA and provide real-world, contemporary examples of how creativity, collaboration, and communication lead to innovation.

Chapter 4
Ethical Codes in Small Worlds
How People Attach to COINs
The Tao of COINs
Social Capital is the Currency of COINs
Meritocracy, Consistency, and Transparency Build Social Capital
COINs are Small World Networks
COINs are Scale-Free Networks
Hubs of Trust in Small World Scale-Free Networks
Ethical codes are developed by COINs as a means to ensure the honesty, transparency, consistency, and meritocracy that make COINs function successfully. Chapter 4 explains ethical codes and how they emerge and function. The chapter discusses the “Tao of COINs,” guiding principles that are a central aspect of why COINs work so well. Social capital, the “currency of COINs,” is introduced and discussed. The chapter concludes with an explanation of COINs as small world, scale-free networks within which hubs of trust (trust being a make-or-break element of COIN success) are built.

Chapter 5
Real-Life Examples: Lessons Learned from COINs
A Three-Point Process Built on Two Pillars
DaimlerChrysler's e-extended Enterprise (e3)
Deloitte Consulting's e.Xperts
e-Banking for a Private Swiss Bank
Union Bank of Switzerland
Leveraging the Lessons Learned
Chapter 5 begins by expanding the discussion of creativity, collaboration, and communication processes introduced in Chapter 3 by adding two foundational elements: culture and technology. These are briefly discussed as components of the COIN-driven innovation process as a lead-in to the case studies of real COINs in which the author has participated and from which lessons about collaborative innovation are derived. The cases are presented in a way that ties them to the specific aspects of COINs that were introduced and discussed in earlier chapters.
Four cases are presented in detail. The first is DaimlerChrysler's e-extended Enterprise, which stemmed from the need to streamline procurement and supply after the merger of the two firms and resulted in an innovation that greatly reduced transaction costs and generated significant revenue. Next, the chapter presents Deloitte Consulting's e.Xperts, a virtual e-business consulting practice that emerged from a trans-national COIN and that was instrumental in successfully acquiring and delivering projects for the firm well in excess of $100 million. This is followed by the example of e-banking for a private Swiss bank, in which a COIN was able to deliver electronic solutions for a financial institution that greatly enhanced its business profile with its customers. Another bank-related case is presented: software development at Union Bank of Switzerland, where a COIN demonstrated how creative collaboration could address several IT-related issues and lead to innovations of value beyond what would have otherwise been expected had the process unfolded in the typical manner.
In addition, two cases are presented in an abbreviated manner through sidebars, to make one or another specific point. One, the brief story of a high-tech startup company, is a lesson in how COINs fail when trust is lost. The other discusses the Trade Point Program that functions as a global COIN, acting locally, to assist small- and medium-size enterprises (particularly in the developing world) in participating in worldwide markets.

Chapter 6
COINs and Communications Technology
Many-to-Many Multicast
Three Dimensions of Online Behavior
Collaborative Web Workspace
Outlook for the Future
Chapter 6, which concludes the main part of the book, shows how new communications technologies have pushed COINs to the tipping point. Aspects of online behavior are discussed in the context of COIN success, and the “many-to-many multicast” (a concept developed by the author) and collaborative Web workspace are detailed. The chapter ends with an “outlook for the future” that recaps some of what was learned and leads the reader into the appendices.

Appendix A
Collaborative Knowledge Networks (CKNs)
Innovation Dissemination: The Ripple Effect
Innovation Inspiration: The Double Helix of CKNs
The Deloitte e.Xpert Practice as a CKN
Conception of the “CKN Idea” – Created by a COIN!
What Ends a COIN?
Three types of virtual communities work together to form an ecosystem of interconnected communities. COINs are one of these types; the others are Collaborative Interest Networks (CINs) and Collaborative Learning Networks (CLNs). Together, the ecosystem they form is called a Collaborative Knowledge Network (CKN). Appendix A explores how they work together, introduces the “ripple effect” of innovation dissemination through these types of communities, and returns to the Deloitte Consulting case (from Chapter 5) to expand the understanding of CKNs and their relationship to COINs. The Appendix also discusses how COINs come to an end.

Appendix B
Temporal Communication Flow Analysis (TeCFlow)
Discovering COINs, CLNs, and CINs with TeCFlow
Analyzing Roles and Communication Patterns in COINs with TeCFlow
Applying TeCFlow to Analyze the Flow of Knowledge in Social Networks
Innovation Pattern: Creation of a New Service Offering
Learning Pattern: Information Dissemination by Webinar
Innovation Pattern: Rise and Demise of Startup Cybermap Systems
Project Management Pattern: Communication in a Software Development Team
Sales Force Pattern: Large Account Management in a Consulting Firm
Summary
Appendix B presents the Temporal Communication Flow Analysis (TeCFlow), a tool for revealing the evolution of interaction patterns in social networks. The tool makes it possible to compare dynamic interaction patterns with the performance of virtual teams and, by identifying typical communication patterns of different types of virtual communities, sheds light on how a team collaborates. Used with Knowledge Flow Optimization (described in Appendix C), the insights gained through TeCFlow can be used to develop recommendations for improved team performance.

Appendix C
Knowledge Flow Optimization (KFO)
KFO Step 1: Visualize Virtual Communities to Find COINs
KFO Step 2: Benchmark COINs and Core Contributors
KFO Step 3: Redesign and Optimize
KFO Step 4: Monitor COINs
How to Be a Successful COIN Member
KFO Applications
Appendix C discusses Knowledge Flow Optimization (KFO), a method for identifying communication patterns consisting of time series of collected communication data, and with which insights can be obtained into complex group dynamics. This makes it possible to predict future group behavior. By analyzing and aligning business processes and knowledge flow, organizations get a unique opportunity to increase the productivity of knowledge workers through greater creativity, efficiency, and quality.
Appendix C also begins to move the reader with the author to the point of taking a leap into the possibility of actively creating COINs, not simply revealing COINs that have emerged “naturally” within organizations.