Could hackspaces hold the key to business innovation?

Where to look for the next wave of corporate innovation? It might just come from renegade geeks, says Richard Leyland.

There's a new type of tech geek emerging. They have proved their mettle in collaborative 'hackspaces', display a tenacious commitment to innovation and, if the business world is ready to open up, they may soon be solving the weightiest challenges of corporate IT.

But first: what is a hackspace?

It's a self-organised community of technology enthusiasts. They get together to pull gadgets apart, play with code and build things.

They're 21st century inventors, hanging on to the day job and in it for the sheer pleasure of discovery. Think tea-serving robots, motorised shoes and software products that solve a gripe endured by three people globally.

Consensus has it that hackspaces began in Germany in the early 1980s. Today they're flourishing across the world, with at least 10 hackspaces in the UK alone. At the core of these communities is a co-operative, collective ethos.

Hackspaces provide a form of bottom-up R & D that is entirely separate to corporate efforts.

And what of funding? Subscriptions to keep the lights on go in the jam-jar, and innovation takes precedence. Just go ahead: code it, design it, build it.

Now, why should businesses care about this phenomenon?

Ready or not, the business world is entering a new era of rapid technology evolution, which brings new levels of openness and transparency with it.

The web blazed the trail. Tools such as Spotify, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube are based on the open exchange and consumption of content.

As my fellow silicon.com columnist Jim Mortleman has pointed out, this open imperative is now bleeding into the wider business world. Companies are learning that the roots of innovation may be located beyond the company's walls.

Consider Proctor & Gamble. The pharma giant has a huge number of highly trained scientists, researchers and engineers, but it's estimated that for every P&G researcher there are 200 people in the global talent pool who are just as capable of contributing. That's about 1.5 million people.

P&G developed their 'Connect & Develop' strategy under the auspices of a new vice president for innovation and knowledge - an ideas man at the very highest corporate table.

The company's strategy employed the insight of many hundreds of outside partners, while a 'use it or lose it' approach to their patents - resulting in patents being sold on if they weren't being used - freed up internal R&D resource.

Speaking at a recent industry conference, Larry Huston, the first VP for innovation and knowledge, said: "The company's intellectual assets are not just 'our know-how', but also 'who we know." The company estimates the strategy has resulted in 400 new products and $10bn in revenue.

As the corporate world adopts this open approach more generally, hackspaces, and the community of problem-solvers tinkering within, should become an obvious place to look for innovation.

In small ways, it's happening already.

In March of this year, a friendly 'hackday' - called Rewired State, or 'National Hack the Government Day' - was held at The Guardian's London offices. The idea, according to the group is: "Government isn't very good at computers. They spend millions to produce mediocre websites, hide away really useful public information and generally get it wrong…We're going to show them how it's done."

A group of 80 developers spent the day scraping government data from various online locations. This information was then sliced, diced and presented back in the form of simple web tools.

Success stories from the day include a tool which correlates crime statistics with exam results; a user-friendly 'Find Me A Dentist' tool; and 'Job Centre Pro Plus', a site which allows job-seekers to see all advertised jobs within their local postcode.

Services such as microblogging phenomenon Twitter grew from geekdom (screenshot: Bethan Jones/silicon.com)

After the event few missed the chance to suggest that governments spend millions on software tools which enthusiasts can build in a day. Minister for Digital Engagement Tom Watson commented: "Want to see British talent? Look at the list of projects created at Rewired State. Simply extraordinary."

In the corporate world, Tesco opened its API, allowing outsiders to see and use their data, at the end of 2008. An early success has been Tesco @ Home, a gadget which brings Outlook-style order to grocery shopping, allowing customers to create to-do lists, messages and calendars.

If you're not yet convinced that geeks are a potent source of corporate innovation, consider some recent success stories in the tech world: Dopplr, Dropbox, Flickr, LastFM and Twitter all began with hobbyist geeks scratching itches.

But businesses must realise these geeks won't come looking for you. If your organisation is serious about innovation, you must make these people your new friends.

Richard Leyland is a futurist and writer, with a particular focus on the future of work. He writes at www.richardleyland.com or follow him on Twitter @leylandrichard

Thanks to Chris Adams of Stemcel, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino of Tinker.it, Jonty Wareing of LastFM and tech commentator Russell Davies.