Recent developments and articles of interest:

• Is it easier to be innovative in small teams? Michael Schrage looks at the trend for smaller innovation teams. “The key performance indicator here is, ironically, slow growth. A fast-growing innovation team means either the wrong people were hired or that the wrong challenge was picked. The team delivers measurably impressive results with only marginally more members. That is the success metric. Empire-building is out; remarkably ‘lean and mean’ is in.”¹
• Paul Macmillan and Howard Yeung look at some great examples of innovation from the United States.
• Cisco recently held their 2011 Public Services Summit with a strong theme of public sector innovation - Marc Musgrove provides an overview.
• Tim Kastelle looks at how to build better innovation metrics.
• The UK Government is establishing an Open Data Institute (ODI). Professor Nigel Shadbolt, who will be director of the ODI, discusses the value of government data in generating innovation. ”A great deal of the data we need to run our lives is generated, collected or held by the government. In the past, governments have either hold [sic] on to this data or else charged for it. But if the web has taught us anything it is the power of open content and unanticipated reuse. Open data is simply the latest manifestation of this trend but it has the potential to be one of the most transformative.”²

As always, please feel free to identify any other developments or articles of interest in the comments below.