If you would like to begin to communicate with the world wide Finfish community then I would encourage you to register by clicking on this link:
http://finfish.org/wp-login.php?action=register
Once you have taken this step, you have the ability to converse with a global community of interest about aquaculture. We would like to encourage you to join in our conversations.
We would be very pleased to assist you to begin using this website. The experience of hundreds of community members is that the best way to learn is to ‘just do it’.
Our next step in the Finfish Project involves inviting 25 experts in different fields of endeavour, nationally and internationally, to come together and participate in face to face meetings - a series of Innovation Roadmapping Workshops.
What exactly are we trying to achieve by holding a series of Innovation Roadmapping Workshops focused on finfish aquaculture? Check out the concept of Innovation Roadmapping here.
What’s different about our approach is that we are opening up the dialogue in the Workshops for everyone to participate and have their say. When we say everyone, we really do mean everyone. Anyone able to access a web browser will be able to share the papers from the Workshop and participate in the dialogue - no matter where they are in the world.
We are firmly of the view that far superior outcomes will be achieved through holding the face to face meetings of the experts in conjunction with encouraging a broad diversity of external, worldwide participation in the dialogue.
For further information on how you can participate click here.
Aquaculture Innovation Roadmapping - come and join us!
We have written elsewhere about the objectives of the finfish.org effort.
Clearly, however, if we are going to be successful in overcoming the fish production gap, then we will need to connect with companies, organisations and individuals globally and have them recognise the value of participating in this. Connecting means actually mobilising then realising valuable outcomes as a result of independent entities world-wide pursuing distributed, collaborative and cumulative aquaculture innovation.
What might motivate such independent entities to contribute their permission, their attention and actually commit resources to this effort?
Part of the answer to this lies in the fact that we are using the approach of open innovation to conduct this effort. The concept of open innovation is logical, presents compelling prospects and its core concepts are widely accepted. However, beyond the few often quoted stories of US mega companies such as Procter & Gamble and Eli Lilly there does not appear to be great deal of publicly available, practical information about successful practice.
Perhaps this might help explain some of the doubts anxieties and confusion over what to do and how to do it? One can imagine the array of fears that might arise would include the usual concerns where collaboration is concerned:
- who else is involved?
- who owns what intellectual property?
- how can we avoid losing control?
However, the benefits that companies, organisations and individuals can gain by participating in this project are absolutely compelling. They include:
- access to free market, industry and technology information and research
- knowledge of benchmarks for the measurement of what constitutes ‘world class’ performance now and in the future for aquaculture products and services
- the opportunity to create new aquaculture knowledge with other highly capable individuals and entities that you would not normally meet
- the ability to engage in dialogues with important organisations concerning market, industry and technology issues
- practical learning by doing mastery of open innovation skills and capabilities
- defining and participating in valuable projects
- acquiring practical experience in open innovation that allows the gap to be closed between potential and actual value
- the opportunity to participate in a best of breed process that will inform the conduct of industry and corporate innovation practice into the future
This suite of benefits should be compelling to those individuals and organisations intent on being part of the aquaculture market in the future.
What’s your take on this? We’d welcome your thoughts as well as your involvement.
It is perfectly logical for anyone considering the value of participating in the finfish aquaculture innovation project to ask the question “what do the organisers contribute?” It is also legitimate to seek a clear understanding of the degree of rigour and credibility the individuals behind the project will bring to the exercise.
The contribution to the project by the organisers consists mainly of four different types of commitment:
- focus
- information
- conectivity
- project resources
Focus
As organisers, the project initiators have set the focus of the project. Focus is important because if it is too broad then it will be difficult to get traction with practical business development objectives to produce real outcomes. If it is too narrow then the ambitious goals set for the project are not likely to be achieved.
The focus for the project is defined from several perspectives. Each of the perspectives must be considered together for the integrity of the project to be maintained.
First, this project is about aquaculture, but not just any aquaculture. The project relates specifically to finfish aquaculture. But again, it is more specific than this since the project is about the sustainable production of high quality table fish for the world’s most discerning markets. If your interests relate to the culture of species other than finfish (for example: moluscs, crustaceans, plant species) then this project is unlikely to fit precisely with your interests. Alternatively if your interests are mainly related to the production of fish as a component of feed products or low value fish for human consumption then you may not find that your needs are at the core of the conversations that take place on this site. Similarly, if your interest is to produce masses of fish while disregarding ecological or societal costs then your needs are unlikely to be fully met.
Second, this project is about producing industrial quantities of fin fish. By industrial quantities we mean amounts of fish relevant to achieving the goal of at least filling the global fish production gap of 37 million tonnes per annum by the year 2030. The focus of this project will therefore be about creating the multiple capabilities across the entire aquaculture value system required to deliver against this objective. If your interests are in tune with creating this type of capability then you will occupy the core opportunity space covered by this project. If, however, your interests are more closely aligned with smaller scale endeavours then you may find that your needs are outside the interests of the majority of participants in this project.
Third, the heart of this project is about significant innovation. To achieve its objectives this project must lead to or catalyse the development of several truely productivity-transforming innovations across the activities that make up the aquaculture value chain. While we fully expect that a number of incremental innovations with be identified through this project, we will be entirely dissatisfied with its outcomes unless there are several innovations that transforms the ability of the aquaculture industry to meet the projected fish supply gap.
Fourth, the project is about delivering high quality table fish to the world’s most discerning markets. This is a world scale problem that will require insights and contributions from around the globe in order to assemble the innovation components into a cohesive world class solution. Therefore, the participants of the project will assemble from various global locations. This web connect platform has the ability to scale to support thousands or indeed tens of thousands of users in their participation in this project.
We do not want to dissuade anyone who believes that they may have insights to gain or contribute from participating but we are absolutely committed to maintaining the focus that we have set for this project.
Information
The second type of contribution is information. The information provided will be that which is most influential in promoting the ability to define significant and productivity transforming innovations for sustainable industrial scale finfish aquaculture. To assist people to organise their thought processes in a coherent fashion we will offer some logic frameworks. The initial frameworks will include a finfish aquaculture value system and a manufacturing paradigm for aquaculture. The organisers will also contribute a study of larger scale aquaculture producers that helps identify the Key Success Factors that have enabled these businesses to grow their production to the present scale. We will also assemble information on innovation priorities in the form of a Finfish Aquaculture Technology Roadmap. The Roadmap will draw on insights from the broad community of participants to identify the most influential changes impacting on the industry, the positioning of major players in the market, the emergence of important new technologies and capabilities that could influence aquaculture as well as capability gaps and performance metrics that need to be met. We expect that the innovation roadmap will assist participants to identify where the productivity transforming innovations are most likely to be derived.
Connectivity
The organisers will play a catalytic role in encouraging people and organisations to participate. This will be achieved by providing a leading edge communication platform that supports the quality of communication and collaboration to enable planning and action on innovation projects. The organisers will also propose a set of guidelines that will act as rules to foster appropriate collaborative innovation practices and outcomes. This will be the subject of a future posting.
This web connect platform has the ability to support a variety of forms of digital communication. We are confident that these forms will support the introduction of people and organisations to one another, encourage rich conversations and the exchange of views and provide support for the creation and performance of cross disciplinary teams.
We are not yet willing to claim that the rich communication experience of direct person to person interaction that facilitates the exchange of tacit knowledge in an innovation project work context will be achieved solely through the communication avenues provided by this site. What we are will ing to posit however, is that as the scale of opportunity is made clear people will find a way to get together one on one or in teams so that innovation rich communication and work can take place.
Project Resources
The organisers are contributing significant resources in cash and in kind to make this project happen. It is anticipated that there is likely to be a number of projects defined as a result of the finfish aquaculture innovation roadmap and that resources will need to be assembled in order to allow these proceed.
The leadership shown by the organisers in developing this project and throwing it open to the aquaculture industry and other innovators world wide demonstrates their commitment to the open innovation model and their conviction that collaborative innovation is required in order to create the quality of innovation to meet the fish production gap.
