wolfc's blah blah blog

Terri Griffith blogged about some remaining questions she had from the Social Networking for Innovation event.  She asked me to comment on the following:

"Companies have looked at working with intrapreneurship for a long time — is what we’re seeing now different?"

I say yes, at least for software intrapreneurs, for the following reasons:

1. cheaper - it's possible to try internal incubation without having to make significant investments as a result of the more open environments and tools...
2. new opportunities - with the down economy, there appears to be more risk tolerance with taking small gambles on longshots with limited downsides but potentially significant upsides...
3. staying competitive - across the technology landscape we've all witnessed companies like Google launch new services / revenue streams derived from stimulating and nurturing intrapreneurial passions...
4. social - the explosion of social networking externally has led to models for improving internal social networking and crowdsourcing...
5. reputation - innovation is a hot term and many seek opportunities to build their reputations and grow their personal network...

I'm sure there are many other contributing factors as well.  What do you think?