Open Innovations - the first 10 years

Open Innovations, formerly ODI Leeds, will be 10 years old (yes I know..!!) in November 2023, and what a ten years it has been for everyone. This post considers our operation, our impact, and looks at our plans for the future as we respond to the economic, social and civic challenges of today and tomorrow.

The first 10 years…

Before we get into what happens next, let us just explain how we got here and why we need to evolve for the next 10 years. In early 2013 myself and Tom Bridges, the then Chief Officer Economy and Regeneration at Leeds City council and now a Director at Arup, had been discussing and working together on what sort of organisation could help Leeds to respond to the opportunity of data and the web so it could address its challenges and importantly create and access the opportunities that the web of data presents.

In parallel, I had been involved in early shaping discussions, with Gavin Starks, the then CEO of The ODI, on his concept for a global node network. The objectives and ambition of the ODI and its Node network were closely aligned with our design for a city data organisation focused on action and impact.

We took the opportunity to combine the two and create a new type of organisation, doing innovation with data in Leeds - amplified by the brand, assets and ambition of The ODI "Node" network - ODI Leeds ℅ Open Innovations was born.

All our work from 2013 is documented on our website, and much of our early work was stimulated and supported, but not funded (we paid a small franchise fee), by the brand, know-how and encouragement and energy of Gavin and his team.

In 2021, after seven years of collaboration, we decided to become an independent organisation and we wrote all of this up on our blog.

Where are we now?

We have created an independent, self-funded, non-aligned, successful, small, non-profit, SME business. This structure provides us with freedom to operate across all sectors and manage ourselves using appropriate methods for the domains we work in. In simple terms we were commercial, we listened to our customers and focused on delivering outputs.

It is really important to remember that ten years ago we were radical pioneers -

• We created a workspace: "a space like ours" - it evolved into a purpose built, collaborative, flexible open space that did not exist in Leeds ten years ago.
• Data: the data eco-system was at a nascent stage and we convened and supported it to become business as usual for Leeds to be a "Data City".
• Entrepreneurs: a mission led, self-funded, non-profit institution focused on working with data on important issues for everyone, was hugely speculative

What do we do now?

• Events and Workspace Hire at our purpose-built innovation space;
• Support our sponsors with their missions, open data & innovation work & bespoke open consultancy support.
• Innovation Projects - convening, hackathons, explorations, programmes, & our own mission led work &,&,&.
• Data Projects - open source data projects for partners, mission led open source tools & visualisations, open data support, and hints & tips, &, &, &.
• Spin outs - Open Data Saves Lives, Open Transport North, The Data City

The next 10 years …

• Open Innovations will cease operating an events & workspace from Munro House by March 2024 (we were pioneers - the pandemic happened, we need to respond), we will continue to do events just not from our dedicated innovation space.
• We will continue to be #RadicallyOpen - doing our mission led work but doing more projects and advisory.
• We have an ambition to create a new Data Institution for North England that;
• Is for everyone.
• Does innovation with data.
• Makes a real difference.

We are #RadicallyOpen, everything we have done and are doing is on our website.

We publish data about our impact on our Dashboard. We write up what we have accomplished each week, each year and publish a review on the web that is not a report ☺ here is our 2022 review.

This approach is rare, it is innovative and pioneering. It allows us to work at pace, means everyone can be involved and is perhaps one of our most important USP's.

There are three interlinked driving forces that have shifted significantly which requires our focus to adapt:

1. Raised Expectations: The value of data (open-shared-closed), is more widely understood now. People & organisations have a point of view on when and how data should be accessed, used and shared. Importantly we have succeeded in showing and telling people/organisations how they can use data & the web. Our role and expression of how Open Innovations can help is now clearer.
2. The Future of Work and Events: The pandemic amplified and accelerated the changes in the way we all work - from home, on-line, with and without technology, and also how we come together to share and make connections.
3. New Institutions!: Data & The North - We knew instinctively in 2013 that we needed new institutions and new institutional thinking to deal with the emerging world of the web of data. Our opinion and work on the ways that economic devolution can help North England compete effectively as an economy has evolved with our work over the past 10 years.

Raised Expectations

The pandemic absolutely amplified and accelerated the expectations of all of us on how data should be published, used and shared for everyone, but this driving force had started years before and was a primary driver for our establishment in 2013.

During the pandemic, we definitely experienced a step change in how people and organisations wanted us to help them innovate with data on the web. We experienced a massive increase in the expectations of people and organisations of what data should and could be available, when it should be available and what it can & should be used for. These expectations have grown and developed exponentially since we were established in November 2013.

In our 2022 review we discussed an important shift in what people and organisations want from us, it stated:

The biggest change that we experienced in 2022 was an acceleration in the evolution in what people and organisations expect from us

In simple terms we can describe this as moving from

show me what we can do with data and the web, so I can show it to other people in my organisation or our partners

to

our organisation knows it needs to do things differently with data and the web and be more open but we are not sure how to do it, please can you help us.

This shift in expectations obviously requires a shift in our business model.

The Future Of Work and Events

What does the data show we should do next?

We do data, so we can show you what is happening exactly in the way we do business at Open Innovations. Our Dashboard starts at 2014:

We have experienced a change in the way that our innovation space is used, the demand for our space is significantly reduced and what we expect it to remain reduced in the future.

In simple terms the pandemic has turned the world of in-person events upside down.

2019 was our busiest year ever for our space and, at times, we could not meet demand. When the pandemic hit we switched to broadcast & hybrid events with some success but we were mostly closed due to government guidelines. Post pandemic, the shift to remote working and virtual meetings has presented a reduction in demand for office and event space. You only need to look at our data and listen to the news about frequent closures of hospitality venues to understand.

Previously, our sponsors used the space week-in-week-out but not so much anymore. Our pioneering space that 10 years ago was ahead of the curve with open & flexible spaces, huge TV's, AV kit, superfast Wifi and floor-to-ceiling wipeable whitewalls is now just one of many venue options in Leeds.

Our lease is up in March 2024, the data shows that we cannot sustain the overheads of a large space with the uncertainty about the future of work and events still in the balance. So we will close our events space and switch to a hybrid model of working similar to most other SMEs. Our team, mission, capacity and commitment will remain in place. We will still continue to host and deliver innovation events online and in person, using other venues.

In terms of our work and revenues you can see in the excerpt from our dashboard below, that we were significantly impacted by the pandemic, but have recovered to revenues that are above the pre-pandemic levels and 2023 is forecast to be slightly higher than 2022.

The way we generate our revenues has changed. Like much of the hospitality industry our revenues from events has reduced significantly but conversely our project led work and advisory services has increased. This change obviously requires a change in our structure, team and the way we do business.

We have therefore increased the capability and capacity of our team to be able to provide #RadicallyOpen services - doing innovation-with-data-on-the-web to our growing number of customers.

New Institutions

Perhaps the most important aspect of our work, and something that is difficult to quantify and recognise, is the scope, scale and reach of our brand, outputs and our point of view.

The development of a set of perspectives, views and opinions that have significant reach and influence on what should be done to make things better for North England is perhaps our greatest achievement.

That these opinions are tested with real, high quality and credible data, in partnership with our sponsors and partners with real-time feedback from our business operations and spin-out and scale up businesses gives them a veracity that is compelling and far reaching.

We have opinions! But we back them up with credible data, we test in the open and we know that people value this.

We know that politicians (local & national), ministers, SPADS, policy makers, consultants, journalists,interested people, and partner organisations value our work, read our insight, access our tools, use our code and value our output.

We are not sure about how exactly we will continue. We are going to do more and we will use the support from our Sponsors and profits from our advisory work to do this - how exactly it will play out is not clear - but as our Head of Data Tom Forth always says "the best work comes from doing it" - so that's what we're going to do - do great work put it on the web - share it with everyone and see what you say and then do the next thing.

We have an ambition to create a new data institution for North England that:

• Is for everyone;
• Does innovation with data;
• Makes a real difference.

We will need partners and collaborators to do this. We will bring the (high quality) data, the #RadicallyOpen spirit, and sky high ambition for North England and our partners will help us create a new institution fit for the 21st Century.

Conclusions

This is an exciting time for us, our sponsors and our partners, we'll be continuing to do our work out loud in the open and together with everyone. As we evolve into the next phase, please join in and make suggestions on how we can work and make a real difference with data.

If you want to know more or join in then please email me at paul.connell@open-innovations.org.