Linkedin Incubator: Why it's significant for the innovation agenda!

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Linkedin has taken a big step. And to me it is a big bold step.

It has launched Incubator, a programme under which engineers can take a break from the regular work and can devote a long stretch of up to 3 months to develop their own ideas.

Yes! 3 full months.

While we have heard stories about 3M and their 15% time schemes for personal ideas, the Linkedin initiative is significant.

Incubator is just not about playing with the ideas and tweaking with it. It's not just an invention model, it brings in entrepreneurship dimension as well.

Prototypes coming out of Incubator have to go through 2 rounds of judging. Only when they pass 30 day and 60 day tests that they will go on to the final stages. It's almost like an entrepreneur going through venture capitalists evaluating eyes.

But those ideas which can pass these rounds will have a chance of real life success. Because even the founder Reid Hoffman and CEO Jeff Weiner are involved in this process.

Google is into this kind of thing for a long time. Their 20% time approach is well known and some powerful ideas like Gmail, Google News, Google Reader and YouTube for Good.(YouTube services for nonprofits and activists) are outcome of this approach.

So what makes Linkdin Incubator so significant?

What was specific to some 'innovative' companies is now becoming a norm. Innovation is now getting weaved in the big picture of things.

While Steve Jobs is known for his love for 'unplanned collaborations' Apple went for 'Blue Sky' programme this year under Tim Cook's leadership. It's Apple's version of employees working on a passion project.

This is a mark of innovation seriously getting on the CEO agenda.

Will we see same kind of trend from non-software industries as well?

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Puneet Bhatnagar is a creativity and mind coach. He is Captain Creaco at Creacos: The Creative Commandoes and author of highly rated book on Amazon 'Google Storming'. 
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