Coolfarming – Lessons from the Beehive to Increase Organizational Creativity

Abstract

This paper introduces Collaborative Innovation Networks as an engine for self-organizing disruptive innovation. It is illustrated by the metaphor of the bee swarm through four lessons from the beehive: “centralized leadership – rotating leaders – waggle dance – attraction pheromone” as key principles for managing self-organizing teams of creators. In combination with applying social network analysis through knowledge flow optimization, managers get a powerful new tool to radically increase creativity and performance of their organizations. Among many well-known examples (LEGO Mindstorms, Apple, Wikipedia), the paper also introduces an extensive case study in health are, the C3N project which creates Collaborative Care Networks for patients of chronic diseases.

Keywords: COIN, Collaborative Innovation Network, Coolfarming

JEL Classification: M14, I18, L22