Open Innovation Leaders Gather to Share Best Practices at NineSigma's OI Leadership Summit 2008

CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwire - October 30, 2008) - Earlier this month, open innovation leaders from around the world gathered at NineSigma's Open Innovation Leadership Summit 2008 to share best practices and strategies for implementing a successful open innovation program. The Summit, which took place in Chicago on October 6-8, 2008, included speeches, presentations and panel discussions featuring Open Innovation (OI) leaders from Eastman Chemical, Goodyear, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, L'Oreal, PepsiCo, Philips and The Coca-Cola Company.

"Considering the challenges of the global economy and ongoing pressure on companies to innovate, NineSigma chose a perfect time to bring together industry leaders and influencers to discuss the boundless potential of open innovation," said Kenneth Lee, Director, Future Scanning and Technology Scouting for L'Oreal. "The NineSigma OI Summit provided a rare opportunity to network with many open innovation leaders, and together, address key issues and share best practices. I took home several concrete lessons that I plan on applying to my own company's OI efforts, and look forward to building upon the relationships that I started at the event."

Keynote speakers at the Summit included Dr. Wim Vanhaverbeke, professor at Hasselt University and co-author with Dr. Henry Chesbrough of "Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm"; and Jean Spence, EVP Research, Development and Quality of Kraft Foods. Dr. Vanhaverbeke discussed ways companies can profit from open innovation while Spence addressed how Kraft is actively pursuing open innovation as an important component of its overall growth strategy. Spence shared some of the company's key goals and current activities, as well as metrics needed to reflect the value contribution of open innovation to Kraft.

"There has never been a better time for companies to invest in open innovation strategies and to leverage the global innovation community to increase their knowledge and technological capabilities," said Joe Batista, Chief Creatologist, Hewlett-Packard. "It was great to spend time with industry leaders and focus on the present state and future opportunities of open innovation. This conference confirmed how important connections are to the success of corporate OI strategies, and the quality of Summit attendees and presentations demonstrated that NineSigma is a great connector of people and ideas."

"The NineSigma OI Leadership Summit was an unprecedented event for the open innovation industry," said Matthew Heim, president of NineSigma. "Summit attendees were able to connect with peers while gathering knowledge and developing resources that will enable them to expand and optimize their own OI efforts. We are thrilled that we are able to facilitate these global connections and to have sparked an emerging network of OI leaders that will work in partnership with us to advance the practice of open innovation."

In addition to keynotes and workshops, attendees met in smaller working groups over the course of the conference to identify leading approaches to some key issues, including organizational readiness and sponsorship, communicating open innovation value, and building internal and external knowledge networks. The Summit's closing presentation was a lively discussion with Harper Reed and Scott VanDenPlas, executives from Threadless.com, which was recently named Inc. Magazine's "Most Innovative Company."

Collaboration among conference attendees continues through a private online forum established by NineSigma. Conference attendees can access presentation materials from the Summit as well as post queries and responses relating to the key issues addressed during the event.

About NineSigma

NineSigma partners with Global 1000 companies to help them overcome business and technology challenges by connecting them with innovative solutions not readily available in the public domain. NineSigma's open network of innovators is the largest of its kind and spans industries, geographies and technical disciplines. Companies such as DuPont, GlaxoSmithKline, Kraft, P&G, Philips, Unilever and Xerox engage NineSigma to build new innovation capabilities that leverage global research and innovation to deliver greater value to their customers. In 2008, NineSigma ranked among the top 20 percent of companies on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. The company also has operations in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.ninesigma.com.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Dan Dyer 513-478-7818