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For open innovation

Ask outside your walls, without opening the doors

You post a brief, the answers arrive by email, and the jury scores them in a spreadsheet. In Hives the call is a challenge of its own: partners answer one simple form, your jury scores every answer on the same criteria, and guests see their challenge and nothing else in your hive.

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Why open calls get messy

One brief out. Scored answers back.

The same platform as the overview, opened up for one challenge: outside people answer a single brief, your experts score every answer on the same criteria, and the best ones move on with an owner.

  1. Step 1 · Brief

    Write the brief once, share it where your partners are.

    Set out the problem, what a good answer looks like and the deadline. Share the challenge by link, QR code or email invitation. Guests answer in the same short form your own people use, and they see that one challenge, not the rest of your hive.

  2. Step 2 · Score

    The jury scores in one place, not in ten tabs.

    Each juror scores every answer against the same criteria, on their own and from any device. The totals add up as they go, so the jury meeting starts with a ranking instead of a merge. Comments stay with the answer they are about.

  3. Step 3 · Decide

    The best answers move on, with an owner.

    Shortlisted answers move to the next step of the call's own workflow, with an owner and a next step, and the people who sent them can see where they are. Your internal ideas stay where they are. On Pro and Enterprise you can connect Findest, which needs its own subscription, to search for startups and research already working on the problem.

An open call runs next to your internal programme, not in a separate tool. Most teams publish their first one within two to four weeks.

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Ida, the AI assistant

Ida reads every proposal, inside and out.

An open call brings in proposals from startups, partners and researchers, each written differently. Ida reads them side by side, sets up the next call and keeps the shortlist moving. You decide what changes. Nothing moves without your yes.

  1. 01 / Summary · 37 ideas

    Read all 37 proposals and sorted them by how they cut weight.

    Thinner material, a new material or less packaging. Six look ready for a pilot this year.

  2. 02 / Set-up · from one sentence

    Set up the lighter packaging challenge for startups from one sentence.

    Four steps and three questions, saved as a private draft. It suggests the packaging engineers as the panel.

  3. 03 / Workflow · 3 changes

    Found the proposals stuck in Qualify and lined up the fix.

    Assign the fibre trays, the thin-wall bottles and the pallet-optimised boxes, remind the panel, add a comment. Nothing changes until you say yes.

  4. 04 / Clean-up · 54 ideas

    Ready to move last year’s open call to Archive.

    Answers and scores are kept, and you can move them back. One click from you, not an afternoon.

Meet Ida

What open innovation leads ask us

Can outside partners see our other ideas?

No. Guests are let into one challenge or survey, not into the rest of your hive. Your own people sign in with their Microsoft or Google work account as usual, so only your organisation sees everything else. Admins can also turn ideas from outside off altogether.

Do startups have to sign up to answer?

No. For an outside challenge you can collect answers by link, QR code or email invitation without asking people to create an account. They answer in the same short form your own people use, from a phone or a laptop.

How does this fit with the innovation programme we already run?

It is the same platform, used for a different job. An open call is a challenge of its own with guests in it, with its own workflow, scoring and report, kept apart from your internal ideas. Pricing is published from 695 euro a month, with no per-user fees.

Not to be braggadocious, but...

Guides and articles

The ones we’d send you if you emailed and asked.

Practical tips on idea management, and real examples of how others have succeeded.

Browse all guides & articles

Article · 15 min read

What Is Innovation Intelligence? Definition & 2026 Guide

Innovation intelligence connects internal idea management with external technology scouting. Definition, why it matters in 2026, and how leading teams use it.