Building a Community of Practice on Innovation

Innovation with suppliers has ceased to be a project and has become a shared practice across the entire group.

The approach is based on three principles. A community of practitioners connected across regions. A shared practice, with methods and cases circulating internally. An orchestration, with procurement positioned as a knowledge broker.

The challenge

Work on innovation with suppliers was carried out in small groups, with methods and lessons remaining within individual teams.

The EIPM approach

EIPM facilitated a community of practice around supplier-enabled innovation, providing practitioners with a recurring forum

to share methods, cases, and open questions.

The impact

Practices circulated instead of being reinvented locally. Procurement positioned itself as the orchestrator of knowledge sharing and best practices.