General Mills Reports Strong Connection Results for G-WIN Innovation Portal

In the company’s first year of using the portal, General Mills has attracted more than 1,000 registered innovators from around the world and has received more than 500 proposals.

3/3/2011 --- General Mills has reported significant progress in its ability to swiftly identify and connect with potential partners around the globe through the General Mills Worldwide Innovation Network (G-WIN) innovation portal. In the company’s first year of using the portal, General Mills has attracted more than 1,000 registered innovators from around the world and has received more than 500 proposals.

“A year ago, we accelerated our connected innovation efforts by launching the G-WIN portal,” said Jeff Bellairs, senior director, General Mills Worldwide Innovation Network. “We openly articulated what we were looking for and invited the inventor community to collaborate and participate. The response has been tremendous and has helped us tap into the external expertise and capabilities of innovators around the globe as we continually evolve our connected innovation program,” he said.

The G-WIN portal, developed in collaboration with software firm inno360, Inc., is a web-based platform that offers inventors and potential business partners a first step in connecting with General Mills. The site allows visitors to review full details of posted technical challenges and create and submit nonconfidential proposals. Registered visitors can also create and manage their profiles and receive ongoing information about future technical challenges that match their unique capabilities and expertise. In addition, the software platform allows General Mills product developers to manage and review submissions, collaborate with innovation partners and follow projects.

The framework behind the G-WIN portal software has been under development for more than two years through a cooperative development partnership between inno360, General Mills, Procter & Gamble and the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Through this unique partnership, General Mills has been instrumental in bringing new enhancements to the tool, including access to a searchable inventor database and cutting-edge mapping and visualization tools, which help General Mills product developers connect with the most relevant contacts around the world.

“As a core member of our cooperative development partnership, the G-WIN team leverages the inno360 innovation framework throughout their activities,” said Glenn Wienkoop, CEO of inno360, Inc. “Companies today want to innovate seamlessly internally, externally and across their entire supplier communities. This kind of networking requires a specific framework, and the inno360 innovation engine provides these types of connection opportunities in minutes.”

“Over the past year, General Mills has made tremendous progress in their Connected Innovation program,” said Chris Thoen, director of global open innovation at Procter & Gamble. “Jeff Bellairs and his team have consistently demonstrated the core attributes that an exemplary collaborator is expected to bring to the open innovation relationship.”

In 2005, General Mills identified open innovation as a key strategic priority and formed a team charged with creating programs and processes to identify and engage external partners. In the spring of 2007, the company formalized its open innovation efforts and officially launched G-WIN to let the world know that it was actively seeking ideas from the outside. The original G-WIN website, also launched in 2007, shared information about the program and invited outside partners to submit their patent or patent-pending ideas for consideration.

Today, G-WIN has an External Partner Development group dedicated to building creative business models and relationships that are beneficial to both the partners and to General Mills.

Since the launch of G-WIN, more than 40 new General Mills products have incorporated a significant portion of open innovation, Fiber One Bars, Pillsbury Savorings, Progresso Light soups, Yoplait Smoothie, and Wanchai Ferry frozen dinner kits.

Visit GeneralMills.com/WIN to view current partnership opportunities with General Mills’ iconic brands. The company is interested in product, package and processing technologies that are applicable to the company’s categories or brands, uniquely meet an unmet consumer need, have been proven technically feasible and can be applied quickly, or are potentially game-changing for the food industry.