Bonn, Germany and Wilmington, Delaware, Feb. 27, 2024 — In a groundbreaking move, HYPE Innovation and Planbox, two trailblazers in the field of innovation management, proudly announce their merger today. This dynamic union creates an unparalleled platform, solidifying their commitment to empowering organizations to conquer the ever-evolving challenges of the business world, ensuring they are not merely current but future-fit.

“Our journey began with a vision to transform the way businesses innovate. Merging with Planbox solidifies this vision by combining over two decades of insights, technology, and passion. As the boundaries between regions and markets blur, our combined expertise stands as a beacon for innovation management systems built on AI and ISO 56000, ensuring that our clients don’t just adapt but thrive. We’ve witnessed how tectonic market shifts can redefine entire sectors — with this merger, we’re set to ignite a new era of innovation management leadership for the world,” said Frank Henningsen, CEO of HYPE Innovation.

Over the past decades, HYPE Innovation has built a reputation for no-nonsense, customer-focused innovation projects. Catering to a diverse clientele, including Fortune Global 500 companies and hidden champions alike, HYPE specialized in dedicated innovation software and consulting. Amid the dynamic landscape of innovation endeavors, HYPE clients report billions of ROI, underscoring the tangible value derived from its platform and services. In 2020, HYPE made waves by acquiring HLP, their primary competitor in the idea management market within the DACH region. Building on this momentum, 2021 saw the strategic additions of Viima, a prominent player in agile, self-service innovation processes, and INNOSPOT, offering AI-based startup-engagement. Adding to its accolades, HYPE Innovation has been recognized as the Customers’ Choice 2023 with the highest-rating in the latest Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for Innovation Management Tools, a testament to its unparalleled commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction in the innovation management sector.

Now, with the integration of Planbox, HYPE enters a transformative chapter. Planbox, a pioneer from its inception, has pushed the market through agile innovation solutions. Since its merger with Brainbank software in 2015, Planbox has consistently topped analyst reports, including the prestigious Forrester Wave in 2020. Noteworthy acquisitions of Imaginatik and IdeaConnection have endowed Planbox with unparalleled depth and breadth. Together, HYPE and Planbox establish a commanding presence in the market.

HYPE Innovation has been an imposing success story in the DACH region, consistently demonstrating its robust presence across Europe for the better part of the last two decades. Simultaneously, Planbox has risen to prominence as the go-to platform for innovation management in North America, further strengthened by a formidable local team in the United Kingdom. Today’s strategic merger forges a collaborative powerhouse that offers clients and global organizations seamless access to world-class innovation management software, expertise, and services. 

“Our combined strengths represent more than just a strategic merger — it’s a commitment to our clients. Together, we’re creating an environment where businesses are poised to be future-fit by preemptively adapting to market trends and capitalizing on them rather than reacting. With our enhanced capabilities, we envision a future where an innovation management system built on AI and ISO 56000 becomes the cornerstone of every successful enterprise,” said Ludwig Melik, CEO of Planbox.

HYPE Innovation and Planbox aim to revolutionize the innovation management industry, delivering unparalleled value to organizations worldwide and igniting new levels of growth and achievement. With the emerging ISO 56000 global standard for innovation management and Generative AI on the rise, the merger sets new industry standards for innovation management systems. Much like how ISO 9001 revolutionized quality management and ISO 27001 set the gold standard for information security, ISO 56001 is poised to fundamentally redefine the realm of innovation management. This standard, which builds upon the ISO 56000 standards series, has been in development for the past decade and is expected to be finalized next year.

HYPE’s AI capabilities, such as the innovation network graph, AI-based data research and management, are now extended and enriched with robust features from Planbox. The resulting best-in-class platform represents a transformative shift in the innovation management landscape, marking the beginning of a fresh chapter where human creativity, artificial intelligence, and governance converge to unlock unprecedented potential for innovation. It simplifies processes, enables efficient resource utilization, and bridges gaps between front-end innovation work and back-end processes and systems.

“While many see mergers as a culmination, for us, it’s a new beginning. The tools and expertise we bring are comprehensive, but what excites us most is the untapped potential between us. However, this merger goes beyond tools and platforms — it’s also about cultivating a mindset of perpetual evolution. We aim to equip organizations with the foresight to not only foresee change but to architect it in order to excel at innovation,” concluded Henningsen.

Beyond the tremendous opportunities, the acquisition safeguards the clients’ investment: With the HYPE Group nearing a significant milestone of €30 million in revenue, the union of these companies now boasts a more robust financial standing, offering clients enhanced confidence in the longevity and sustainability of their innovation management partner. Additionally, customers benefit from an expanded network of partners, collaborators, and experts that the merged entity provides, fostering opportunities for collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and accelerating their innovation efforts.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About HYPE Innovation

HYPE Innovation is a leading provider of software and consulting in the field of innovation management, offering a comprehensive platform for the entire lifecycle of your innovation program. Our solutions encompass end-to-end Ideation, Technology and Trend Management, Startup Scouting, Innovation Partner Management, and Ecosystem Engagement. As a top-tier player in the innovation management landscape, we enable our clients to uncover opportunities, foster collaboration, and drive strategic goals, from growth to cost-saving and sustainable transformation, enabling them to excel at Innovation. For more information, visit www.hypeinnovation.com.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

With this year’s International Day for Failure coinciding with Friday the 13th, the atmosphere couldn’t be more apt.

Wilmington, Delaware — In the spirit of the International Day for Failure on October 13th, Planbox, the pioneering innovation management platform, is excited to spotlight its most memorable missteps from the past year. Founded in 2010 by students at Aalto University in Finland, this unique day aims to challenge the fear of failure in the business world and to advocate for embracing risk and creativity.

To fully embrace this occasion, Planbox initiated the “Oops!” challenge, encouraging the Planbox community to share their notable failures from the year. By doing so, Planbox hopes to shift the narrative from one of avoiding failure to one that celebrates the inherent value of mistakes as drivers of innovation, creativity, and learning.

Here are the top business-related and off-duty “oops” moments of 2023:

• Orange Juice Cappuccino, Anyone?: “In my morning haze, I mistakenly frothed orange juice instead of milk for my cappuccino. Let’s just say it was a zesty surprise.”
  

• Hasty Edits, Timely Lessons: “Under the gun, I hastily began editing a crucial project template without creating a backup. In the process, I found myself entangled in a web of alterations. Thankfully, a teammate had a saved version to spare, bringing about a sigh of relief. This experience served as a poignant reminder of an ancient adage, ‘Festina lente’ or ‘speûde bradéōs’, translating to ‘make haste slowly’. Sometimes, urgency requires a pinch of patience.”

• Bowling Blunders: “As a lawn bowls enthusiast, I took the role of ‘Skip’ in a recent ‘Triples’ match. But in a comedy of errors, I mistakenly disturbed our advantageous positions not once, but multiple times. Our final score? A humbling 3-25.”

• Monsters Under the Bed: “I didn’t identify a potential risk that later becomes a major issue, halting project progress. The lesson? Always perform comprehensive risk assessments and take the time to really analyze a potential situation before dismissing the threat.”

• The Jeans Journey: “In my rush to pack for a visit to my in-laws, I forgot my jeans. With no men’s clothing stores in town, I had to resort to charity shops. Fortunately, I found a perfect pair at a mere £4.50.”

• Oops-sumptions: “We made an assumption about a key project component without verifying, resulting in costly revisions later. The lesson? Always validate assumptions, especially if they can impact the project outcome. Asking more questions and confirming what needs to be done is a lot better than missing a key project deliverable due to a misunderstanding.”

Recognizing failures is not just about admitting mistakes but understanding how to derive value from them. This process is essential for fostering a culture that encourages innovation and continued investments in future-centric ventures.

For organizations, the key lies in deriving insights from such experiences and turning them into growth opportunities. If you’re keen to discover strategies successful innovators employ to transform failures into stepping stones, we invite you to schedule a conversation with one of Planbox’s innovation advisors.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

Wilmington, Delaware — Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, has been named an Idea Management Software Leader for four consecutive quarters by G2, an industry leading software marketplace where technology buyers evaluate vendors based on validated peer reviews.

Planbox has ranked Leader in three separate Grid® reports:

• Grid® Report for Idea Management Software, Fall 2023
• Enterprise Grid® Report for Idea Management Software, Fall 2023
• Momentum Grid® Report for Idea Management Software, Fall 2023

Vendors in the Idea Management Software category are ranked by customer satisfaction and market presence and placed into four quadrants on the Grid®: Niche, Contenders, High Performers, and Leaders. The Leader quadrant is characterized by vendors that are rated most highly by G2 users and that have substantial market presence.

Planbox’s recognition as a Leader in multiple Grid reports underscores its commitment to delivering high-quality solutions that drive meaningful outcomes for its clients, positioning it as a trusted partner for large organizations seeking to drive innovation and growth.

Additionally, G2 awarded Planbox with eight trust badges that represent a vendor’s performance relative to others in its category. 

• Leader, Fall 2023
• Leader, Enterprise, Fall 2023
• Momentum Leader, Fall 2023
• Best Relationship, Enterprise, Fall 2023
• Easiest Setup, Enterprise, Fall 2023
• Users Most Likely To Recommend, Fall 2023
• Users Most Likely To Recommend, Enterprise, Fall 2023
• Users Love Us

According to G2, Enterprise badges are awarded based on reviews from users who are employed at companies with a workforce of 1,001 or more employees.

Additional customer insights into the Planbox platform can be found on G2, where users rated Planbox with a 4.8/5 rating based on 39 reviews as of October 10, 2023 — the highest user rating among all other idea management software vendors.

“This achievement is an inspiring reflection of our team’s pursuit of excellence, as well as our commitment to helping our clients unlock their full innovative potential. This acknowledgment from G2 energizes us to continue pushing the boundaries in delivering effective solutions that empower our customers to thrive in an ever-evolving marketplace,” said Sara Husk, Chief Customer Officer of Planbox.

See why Planbox is ranked number one by analysts and users.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

About G2

G2 is the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 80 million people annually — including employees at all of the Fortune 500 — use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews. Thousands of software and services companies of all sizes partner with G2 to build their reputation, manage their software spend, and grow their business – including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, and Adobe. To learn more about where you go for software, visit www.g2.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

ESA taps Planbox to institutionalize innovation, aligning with ISO 56002 standards to strengthen its competitive advantage.

Wilmington, Delaware — Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, has been selected by Environmental Science Associates (ESA), a 100% employee-owned environmental consulting firm with over 50 years of experience, to standardize and scale its innovation efforts and unlock the full potential of ESA’s innovative spirit.

Though innovation has always been woven into ESA’s corporate fabric, the integration of Planbox as its innovation management system provides a formalized structure for the systematic development, evaluation, and implementation of ideas. As part of the firm’s five-year strategic plan, this move represents a significant stride towards firmwide standardization of innovation processes.

“Innovation has always been reflected in the collaborative work of our teams with our clients and partners. However, until now, we lacked a formal structure for harnessing innovation firmwide,” said Leslie Moulton-Post, ESA President/CEO. “Planbox will enable us to transform ideas into value-generating assets with our employee-owners using a shared virtual space, and do so in a way that is continuous and consistent.”

A decisive factor in ESA’s selection of Planbox was the platform’s alignment with the ISO 56002 Guidance Standard for Innovation Management Systems. “ESA aims to organize its innovation program around ISO 56002, adhering to established best practices in innovation management, thereby increasing the likelihood of repeating successful outcomes.”

Additionally, ESA’s alignment with ISO 56002 not only reinforces the crucial role of innovation within its strategic five-year plan but also amplifies its importance to the executive team. “Aligning with these global standards strengthens our commitment to innovation and solidifies our market position. We anticipate that our clients will demand these high standards and meeting them will give us a competitive edge as we pursue new work.”

Also captivating ESA are robust features like Planbox’s configurable workflows and H2H (Head-to-Head) decision framework. “The workflows offer significant advantages for our Innovation Stewardship Council, enabling them to easily evaluate ideas and advance them through our criteria for selection, funding, and implementation. They can also leverage H2H to make unbiased decisions about which ideas to move forward.”

ESA envisions numerous benefits from using Planbox. The firm aims to enhance engagement and collaboration among all employee-owners, gain a competitive advantage, generate client value, and improve operational processes. Expected outcomes include fostering cross-regional and business unit collaboration, bolstering resilience, driving tangible cost savings and revenue growth, and reinforcing their reputation as creative problem solvers.

“We’re thrilled to onboard Planbox as our innovation management platform. This move enables us to fully tap into ESA’s potential, unleashing a wealth of ideas that will drive meaningful work forward, and fortify our competitive advantage,” concluded Moulton-Post.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

About ESA

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) is a prominent environmental science and services firm, leading the industry in planning and design, environmental science, regulatory compliance, and restoration. ESA works to improve the sustainability and resilience of communities and the natural environment, providing responsive client service and tackling complex environmental challenges. A 100% employee-owned firm, growing thoughtfully and deliberately, ESA invests in its employee-owners across offices in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southeastern United States. To learn more, visit www.esassoc.com.

“Innovation is critical to navigating volatility and uncertainty,” according to Gartner.

Wilmington, Delaware — Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, today announced it has been recognized in the categories of Trendspotting and Idea Management Tools in the 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for Innovation Practices.

According to Gartner, “Innovation is critical to navigating volatility and uncertainty. Executive leaders should study this Hype Cycle to understand the trends in practices that can help organize and execute innovation to maximize the value and impact of their innovation programs across the organization.”

Trendspotting:

Planbox’s recognition in the Trendspotting category underscores its commitment to deep, analytical foresight. In an era where change is constant and often rapid, the ability to discern meaningful shifts from transient trends is invaluable. Gartner emphasizes the use of “trend cards, radars, ideation tools, and design thinking” for capturing and communicating emergent trends. Emphasizing strategic intelligence, Planbox’s platform aligns with the ISO 56006 Standard recommendations, enabling businesses to not only identify but also evaluate and prioritize these trends. As highlighted in the Gartner report, such tools help “collect, evaluate and communicate information about trends.”

“In our rapidly evolving business environment, superficial trend-watching isn’t enough. Organizations must adopt a future-fit approach, fostering a profound understanding of underlying shifts, not just surface-level changes. Innovation isn’t about sporadic eureka moments; it’s about creating a sustainable ecosystem where ideas are nurtured, evaluated, and seamlessly integrated into strategic planning,” said Ludwig Melik, CEO of Planbox.

Delving further into the ecosystem of trendspotting, an expert solver network, such as IdeaConnection by Planbox, emerges as a pivotal asset. Such a network acts as a hub of knowledge and experience, providing insights that transcend conventional boundaries. Gartner describes this as “software that comes with people,” emphasizing the confluence of technology and human expertise. 

“By integrating an expert solver network into the innovation ecosystem, organizations can harness diverse perspectives and deep expertise, ensuring that identified trends are not just observed but thoroughly understood and capitalized upon. This holistic approach amplifies the potential of trendspotting, turning insights into actionable strategies,” added Melik.

Idea Management Tools:

Innovation thrives in an environment where ideas are continually generated, assessed, refined, and implemented. Planbox’s inclusion in the Idea Management Tools category signifies its prowess in fostering this innovation ecosystem. Gartner suggests that deploying “innovation management tools alongside the applications that people already use” can immerse participants in a business context, igniting the spark for new ideas. Planbox seamlessly integrates into existing workflows, ensuring that innovation becomes a continuous, integrated process rather than an isolated event. By doing so, Planbox ensures organizations can “clearly communicate the value of participation” and foster a culture of innovation that drives growth.

Melik further added, “This recognition from Gartner reinforces our approach to innovation — a blend of analytical foresight and an ingrained culture of ideation. We’re honored to be seen as a catalyst, helping organizations transition from reactive adaptation to proactive evolution.”

Additionally, Planbox was recently recognized as a Representative Vendor in the 2023 Gartner Market Guide for Innovation Management Tools.

Gartner “2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for Innovation Practices” by Peter Skyttegaard, David Cearley, Tsuneo Fujiwara, Gunjita Mundeja, Christian Stephan, 24 July 2023.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

Kington, United Kingdom — Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, announced today its third consecutive achievement of the Cyber Essentials certification, a key recognition overseen by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.

Cyber Essentials equips organizations with a formidable defense against the vast majority of prevalent cyber threats. The essence of this certification is critical; entities vulnerable to basic cyber breaches often stand out as targets for more profound and harmful cyber interventions. With this recurrent achievement, Planbox reinforces its dedication to safeguarding its operational prowess and its stakeholders from potential cyber risks.

The consistent attainment of this certification for three years running underscores Planbox’s commitment to maintaining high cybersecurity standards. It offers clients and partners added confidence in the company’s ability to deter most common cyber adversaries, who often zero in on entities with weaker protective measures.

Omid Pishahang, DevOps Lead at Planbox, stated, “Securing the Cyber Essentials certification for the third year in a row reflects our consistent dedication to upholding the highest levels of cybersecurity for our customers. In the ever-evolving digital realm, strengthening defenses is non-negotiable, and our team remains steadfast in this commitment to excellence and security.”

This achievement is in line with Planbox’s other commendations, including the G-Cloud 13 Framework Agreement, marking its credibility as a reliable cloud services provider to the UK public sector. Planbox also boasts ISO 27001, 270017 and 27018 compliance for its information security management and has been honored with the CSA STAR Certification. Furthermore, Planbox remains compliant with the SOC 2 Type 2 standards in the realms of Security, Availability, and Confidentiality.

To learn more about Cyber Essentials, visit the National Cyber Security Centre.

Learn more about Security, Trust and Privacy at Planbox.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for… innovation!

Wilmington, Delaware — Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, is excited to serve up its latest round of Innovation & Improvements (I&I) to its top-ranking platform. Following up on the Spring 2023 release, this Summer scoop of I&I introduces a refreshing twist on familiar features, alongside novel additions aimed at making the life of innovators a whole lot easier.

Kickstart a hackathon in no time

Hackathons Made Hassle-Free

In our previous update, we introduced Challenge Gallery, which boasts a vast selection of pre-designed and configurable templates that allow you to launch challenges in an instant, eliminating the need to manually copy over form fields, business rules, and workflows. Want to run a challenge for continuous improvement? Done. How about launching a more impactful challenge that addresses sustainability goals? Also done. Or, maybe you want to kickstart something a little more eventful like a hackathon? Done and done.

As far as innovation activities go, hackathons are a popular way to realize business results in a short period of time, while also generating a great level of excitement and engagement. The catch? It could be time consuming to set it up just right, especially for the novice innovator. However, with the latest addition of our hackathon template to the Challenge Gallery (designed with 20+ years of experience in mind), you can launch your next hackathon event, hassle-free, in virtually no time—and with the confidence of a veteran innovator, too.

Visit the challenge gallery, select the hackathon template, make adjustments, and launch your challenge:

Attract top talent to your innovation challenges

Build Your Dream Team

Speaking of hackathons, one of the fundamental elements of an online innovation event is the formation of teams, specifically when the most promising ideas are selected for presentation to senior management. Referred to as the “pitch”, this decisive moment can seal an idea’s destiny, so it’s important that you assemble a top-notch team capable of framing your concept’s business case in the most persuasive way possible.

Fortunately, recruiting the right people for the job is no longer limited to the people you know. Our unique Call for Talent feature empowers you to openly share your needs with a diverse pool of talent within your organization, or with a 20,000+ network of multidisciplinary expert solvers from all corners of the world. This not only invites a multitude of viewpoints into your project, but it also breaks inter-departmental silos to foster a more inclusive culture of innovation. As individuals heed the call of duty, you can review their applications and decide to accept or reject them based on their expertise, making the process of building your dream team a breeze, and the likelihood of creating the perfect pitch an achievable reality.

Set a timeframe, specify your requirements, and review applications as they come in:

Develop business concepts in a fresh new way

It’s Canvas Version A.W.E.S.O.M.E

When crafting a business concept, it’s important to centralize all the essential components in one place, or your idea risks going nowhere really fast. Just as a painter needs a canvas, so does an innovator, which is precisely where our Real-Time Collaborative Canvas comes in. While the tool has been around, what’s fresh is its awesome new look, along with some nifty new features that elevate the overall experience of the business case development process:

• Get the picture: Now, you can link your canvas or a canvas card to an existing idea or challenge, boosting transparency and traceability. This way, everyone’s on the same page about the objectives your canvas and cards are tackling.
• See it your way: Stick with the classic canvas look or switch to a list view when things start to get crowded. It’s all about making sure you can easily read and navigate, no matter how much you’ve got going on.
• Show your colors: Spruce up your canvas by changing the colors of the background, columns, column headers, and cards. Not only does it give your canvas some personality, but it also helps you distinguish between different parts or spotlight specific elements.
• Repeat the magic: Got a custom canvas that really knocked it out of the park? Don’t let it go to waste—save it as a template and recreate that success whenever you want.
• Share the love: Get everyone involved by enabling voting on your canvas. Let users upvote the cards they think are game-changers in pushing the idea forward.

Explore new business opportunities with your team in an easy-to-read, one-page format:

Capture actionable data from ideas

Seize the Data

When we rolled out our I&I update for Spring 2023, we amped up our Innovation Dashboard with four new sections (Users, Tasks, Location, and Pipeline), turning it into the ultimate tool for tracking and analyzing innovation activity across the entire innovation management system. 

Now, we’re unveiling Idea Explorer, a practical addition offering a do-it-yourself reporting feature that gives you the power to manage, analyze, and communicate data related to your ideas like never before. Simply choose the fields, columns, and data parameters you want to report on, and share insights tied to ideas in a way that boosts decision-making, performance tracking, and stakeholder alignment. All in all, it’s about seizing the data and making it work for you.

Create, edit, and save an idea list view, and then simply export your data:

Innovate incognito with custom avatars

It’s Peak Innovation Fun

We saved the best for last: Avatar Mode. This thrilling new feature kicks your innovation journey into high gear in the most exhilarating way possible: it allows contributors to express their unique personality and expertise using anonymous personas, creating an immersive and upbeat atmosphere where everyone feels motivated to express their creativity. What’s more, top-level executives can discreetly participate in the forefront of innovation while maintaining their anonymity. Get ready for a wave of unconventional ideas, honest exchanges, and endless excitement!

And best of all? Avatar Mode fits like a glove in a variety of scenarios. Use it to fuel friendly competition among teams, spark creativity in brainstorming sessions, or even to host company-wide events that everyone can be a part of. What’s more, it helps remote teams feel closer to each other in the virtual realm, making geographical barriers a non-issue. It’s peak innovation fun like you’ve never experienced before. Just explore this real-world use case featuring a multinational pharmaceutical firm, and you’ll know what we mean!

Let users define their digital identity and share ideas without constraint:

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

Blending human ingenuity and artificial intelligence, Planbox reimagines the future of collaborative innovation.

Wilmington, Delaware — Hot on the heels of its patented, industry-first AI-powered Self-Driving Innovation Management Solution, Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, is now thrilled to lift the veil on its most recent suite of generative AI features—a game-changing update that promises not just to enhance innovation management processes, but to fundamentally redefine them.

By harnessing AI to streamline the ideation process, foster collaboration, and deliver tailored, real-time insights, Planbox is setting new industry standards. This unprecedented integration of AI capabilities into its best-in-class platform represents a transformative shift in the innovation management landscape, marking the beginning of a fresh chapter where human creativity and artificial intelligence come together to unlock unlimited potential for innovation.

Collaborative innovation lies at the intersection of human creativity and artificial intelligence.

“We stand at a pivotal moment in the field of innovation management,” says Ludwig Melik, CEO of Planbox. “By integrating AI into our platform, we aim to focus human ingenuity more effectively, leading to a more consistent and continuous innovation process. We believe that AI is not here to replace human creativity, but rather to unleash it, to free us from routine tasks and allow us to dream bigger, think broader, and innovate faster. With this landmark update, Planbox is committed to leading the charge in this new era of AI-augmented innovation management.”

Following are the initial set of AI enhancements introduced to the Planbox platform:

AI Inspiration

Inspire creativity with a steady stream of curated content.

Ignite your imagination

Discover the Power of AI-Curated Inspiration

Our AI Stream infuses your innovation journey with a constant, personalized flow of curated content. Stay informed and inspired as you engage with a real-time stream of articles and topics tailored to your specific AI prompt. This is your one-stop source to effortlessly convert captivating articles into engaging ideas or challenges, continually fuelling your creativity and keeping the wheels of innovation in motion.

Generate ideas in a flash

Unleash the Magic of AI-Powered Ideation

With Planbox’s AI Stream enriching your innovation journey with diverse, high-quality content, you can effortlessly search and find inspiration for fresh ideas and challenges by tapping into a rich array of streams spanning private and public data sources, including:

• Salesforce
• Jira
• ChatGPT
• RSS feeds
• Twitter
• US Patent Office 
• Your existing pool of ideas and support tickets

Then, imagine having a system that suggests captivating titles for your ideas or challenges. That’s what Planbox brings to your ideation process. Leveraging the content and articles you select, our AI seamlessly generates title suggestions, aligning perfectly with your content. It’s an innovation game-changer, driving your ideation forward at unprecedented speed while preserving the essence of your creativity.

AI Ideation

Choose from a tailored list of AI-generated ideas to seed your challenge.

Get the innovation-ball rolling

Let AI Set the Stage for Your Challenges

With Planbox’s Idea Seeding feature, starting your innovation journey has never been easier. Using your organization’s industry, website, Twitter handle, and challenge title/description, the system generates a stream of inspiring ideas tailored just for you. This gives you a powerful springboard to explore numerous thought-provoking concepts and kickstart your innovation initiatives with a bang.

Zero in on industry-specific challenges

Harness AI for Pinpoint Problem-Solving

Planbox’s Challenge Exploration feature is your AI-powered detective, uncovering the most relevant problems in your industry. Simply input keywords related to your industry or focus area, select relevant content to fuel inspiration, and watch as our system gets to work. The result? A precisely tailored list of ideas, pinpointing new and relevant challenges to tackle, finely tuned to your unique industry context.

Polish your ideas to perfection

Add a Touch of AI Magic to Your Ideas

Our Idea Improvement feature brings the finesse of AI to your creative process. Refine and enhance your ideas at any point using the AI assistance, tuning the language, amplifying the impact, or exploring alternative angles. This collaborative approach elevates your ideas, maximizes their impact, and ensures they resonate with the audience, capturing the essence of your innovation with precision.

Categorize ideas effortlessly

Turn Chaos Into Order with AI-Driven Idea Tagging

Embrace order in your innovation process with Planbox’s Automatic Tag Generation feature. Our intelligent AI system creates tags for ideas that can be fine-tuned with human input. The system distinguishes between auto-generated and verified tags, simplifying idea categorization and promoting data filtering, aggregation, and analysis based on common themes. This feature paves the way for efficient navigation through user content, fostering an organized and easily accessible innovation workspace.

Stimulate meaningful conversations

Boost Engagement with AI-Generated Comments

Our Comment Suggestion feature makes interacting with ideas a breeze. The integrated AI system generates a selection of insightful comments based on your idea, offering you options to select, refine, and submit the best suggested comments. This way, you not only save time and effort but also enrich the conversation, promoting a more engaged and collaborative innovation environment.

Use dialogue as a catalyst for action

Converse, Collaborate, and Create with Your AI Sidekick

The AI Chat feature brings a conversational twist to your innovation process. Use this tool to brainstorm, seek feedback, or simply exchange thoughts. But that’s not all: you can easily convert your chat discussions into tangible actions, creating challenges, ideas, or comments directly from Planbox’s AI chat interface. It’s like having a trusted partner in your innovation journey, ready to help whenever inspiration strikes.

AI Knowledge

Have your questions answered in an instant.

Get on-demand knowledge

Have a Question? AI Has the Answer.

Our AI-powered Knowledge Hub serves as an instant, accessible source of valuable information. Regardless of the complexity of your question, our AI system provides automatic responses, delivering key insights just when you need them. And remember, you have the freedom to use the generated response as is or personalize it to fit your unique context. It’s on-demand knowledge, tailored to your needs.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. Built on ISO 56002 and AI, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

Wilmington, Delaware — Planbox, the pioneering agile innovation management platform, has been named an Idea Management Software Leader for three consecutive quarters by G2, an industry leading software marketplace where technology buyers evaluate vendors based on validated peer reviews.

Planbox has ranked Leader in three separate Grid® reports:

• Grid® Report for Idea Management Software, Summer 2023
• Enterprise Grid® Report for Idea Management Software, Summer 2023
• Momentum Grid® Report for Idea Management Software, Summer 2023

Vendors in the Idea Management Software category are ranked by customer satisfaction and market presence and placed into four quadrants on the Grid®: Niche, Contenders, High Performers, and Leaders. The Leader quadrant is characterized by vendors that are rated most highly by G2 users and that have substantial market presence.

Planbox’s recognition as a Leader in multiple Grid reports underscores its commitment to delivering high-quality solutions that drive meaningful outcomes for its clients, positioning it as a trusted partner for large organizations seeking to drive innovation and growth.

Additionally, G2 awarded Planbox with nine trust badges that represent a vendor’s performance relative to others in its category. 

• Leader, Summer 2023
• Leader, Enterprise, Summer 2023
• Momentum Leader, Summer 2023
• Best Relationship, Enterprise, Summer 2023
• Best Usability, Enterprise, Summer 2023
• Easiest Setup, Enterprise, Summer 2023
• Most Implementable, Summer 2023
• Users Most Likely To Recommend, Summer 2023
• Users Love Us

According to G2, Enterprise badges are awarded based on reviews from users who are employed at companies with a workforce of 1,001 or more employees.

Additional customer insights into the Planbox platform can be found on G2, where users rated Planbox with a 4.8/5 rating based on 38 reviews as of June 15, 2023 — the highest user rating among all other idea management software vendors.

“This achievement is an inspiring reflection of our team’s pursuit of excellence, as well as our commitment to helping our clients unlock their full innovative potential. This acknowledgment from G2 energizes us to continue pushing the boundaries in delivering effective solutions that empower our customers to thrive in an ever-evolving marketplace,” said Sara Husk, Chief Customer Officer of Planbox.

See why Planbox is ranked number one by analysts and users.

For all the latest news and updates, follow Planbox on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

About Planbox

Innovation is at the heart of becoming Future-Fit. By aligning our software with ISO 56002 guidance standards, our end-to-end agile innovation management platform and services empower medium and large-sized organizations to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient. Planbox helps you turn creative ideas into winning projects and integrate everyday tools to collaborate smarter with your community of employees, customers, partners, startups, governments, academia, and expert solvers. Planbox has offices in Canada, UK, and USA, with customers around the world in over 140 countries.

About G2

G2 is the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. More than 80 million people annually — including employees at all of the Fortune 500 — use G2 to make smarter software decisions based on authentic peer reviews. Thousands of software and services companies of all sizes partner with G2 to build their reputation, manage their software spend, and grow their business – including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, and Adobe. To learn more about where you go for software, visit www.g2.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.