P&G Is Open for Innovation

Procter & Gamble may spend billions each year on research and development, but even the world’s largest consumer products company can’t go it alone. In an effort to speed and simplify external innovation connections, P&G’s Connect+Develop program today launched a new website, www.pgconnectdevelop.com,that will link innovators to top company needs, and P&G business leaders directly to external innovation submissions.

In the spirit of C+D, the website was developed in collaboration with several external partners, which brought new innovative technology to the back-end of the site, enabling user submissions to directly feed into the business category leaders. This will allow P&G to review needs more quickly and more efficiently for strategic fit or scalability across the business.

“As P&G enters its second decade of Connect+Develop, our focus is on strengthening areas of our open innovation work to deliver more discontinuous, breakthrough innovations. Part of that work means making connections both easier and more effective,” said Laura Becker, general manager, Connect+Develop and Global Business Development.

The website lets innovators link directly to P&G’s posted needs, which are organized by business area and searchable by topic. Innovators also can access a full description of every need, including scale and success criteria. On the back-end, the site links P&G innovation managers with submissions, letting them search by topic or work area, share internally, and track progress.

P&G launched its Connect+Develop program more than 10 years ago and has developed more than 2,000 global partnerships, delivered dozens of global game-changer products to consumers, accelerated innovation development and increased productivity, both for P&G and its partners, according to the company.

The website allows innovators everywhere to share their innovations with the company. The site, which includes translations in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese, receives about 20 submissions every weekday—more than 4,000 a year—from all over the world.