The X Open Innovation (Ecole Polytechnique Alumni Group on Open Innovation)  squad convened again recently for an exchange of views on the subject of expert smartsourcing. No surprise, Presans was on board, represented by Albert Meige and Hervé Arribart. As readers of this blog are already familiar with the XOI drill by now, we’ll just jump to the pitch set from here.

Michael Haddad based his contribution on an article on technology scouting he wrote last year for the Paristech Review. The article provides a good picture of the different approaches to open innovation, with an emphasis on the problems of trust and IP management. Michael also noted that information based on the analysis of publications and patents will automatically incorporate a two year lag. As Albert Meige pointed out, involving experts on a personal level is the only known way to gain forward-looking data.

Next came Albert and Hervé. Albert depicted the story and the logic behind the now well-established method used by Presans and some other platforms: Multistep Dynamic Expert Sourcing. The leading open-innovation platforms are following (or are trying to follow) the same trend, because the myth of the magic open-innovation platform is over (or in full-text here).  He also dropped hints concerning future applications and expansions of this approach, in order to take expert collaboration to a new level. Watch this space to see how this client-driven theme will unfold over the course of 2016. Hervé provided some background on expertise and meta-expertise, based on his Presans Fellow veteran’s perspective. He highlighted the fact that getting the most out of experts isn’t something that just happens by itself!

Benjamin Razakarivony presented his Instarlink recruitment solution, which matches applicant profiles and recruiting needs using proprietary semantic software, as well as a combination of JotForm and Google Docs. A written version of his talk can be found in French here.

Finally, Tru Dô-Khac shared his MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) experience. A recap in French of his pitch is available here. The main takeaway is that forums and peer evaluation, considered in the MOOC context, provide a new and potentially powerful way to identify experts. A conclusion echoed by Céline Conrardy.