Business Services
Idea broker
NineSigma Inc. helps companies find solutions to their problems.
By Abby Cymerman
Smart Business Akron/Canton | September 2006
Forget about hoarding innovative ideas within your industry. In today’s business world, it’s all about speed to market, and that’s where Cleveland-based NineSigma Inc. has found its success.
Founded on the concept of open innovation, NineSigma works with companies to determine the exact problem that needs to be solved, then uses a proprietary management process to locate innovation research that would not normally be accessible. NineSigma helps manage the exchange of information in a nonconfidential way that protects the inventor’s intellectual property and the solution seeker’s market potential.
In the past, companies have relied on innovation developed in-house or through existing peer networks. But new innovations also occur outside of a company’s field of expertise, and unless a company is aware of them and can participate, it could miss key opportunities.
Since Paul Stiros joined NineSigma as president and CEO in September 2004, the company doubled its revenue from 2004 to 2005 and is expected to increase revenues by almost 50 percent this year. New users made up 54 percent of the client base last year.
NineSigma has worked on programs with strategic partners such as 3M, Delphi, DuPont, General Motors, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods, Unilever and Air Products.
NineSigma’s proprietary process removes geographic and technological boundaries to help companies shorten product development cycles and leapfrog the competition. It actively searches new patents and new research papers from around the world.
For example, its process helped the consumer goods company Procter & Gamble find a technology solution to help prevent cotton shirts from wrinkling. A unique technology innovation came from a university professor who was working on treatments for semiconductor surfaces.
He learned through the NineSigma process that his technology could address the cotton-wrinkling problem. P&G and the university professor entered into a Phase I contract to further develop the application.
NineSigma also is changing the way industry innovates by reducing risk. Having a global view increases knowledge and allows management to make strategic business decisions that can potentially save millions of dollars in research and development expenditures or increase business opportunities.
HOW TO REACH: NineSigma Inc., (216) 295-4800 or www.ninesigma.com
