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We all know stories of radical innovation becoming disruptive because incumbent cannot change their competencies and embrace the upcoming technology. Maybe not any more, given the fluidity of modern markets for technology. In fact, one of the main players of the e-paper industry, PVI, is in fact a subsidiary of a major Taiwanese paper mill, and has pursued an interesting strategy of partnership and acquisition in order to transition to the new technology.

Daimler and Renault signed a strategic alliance sharing competencies and technologies. The alliance is about creating platform projects for components of the new cars. Each company has its components to realize. With this alliance Daimler is changing its traditional business model: the company decided to swicht to the production of small car, where Renault has its core busines competencies. This partnership can also bring the German company in contact with the field of the new electric cars, in which Reanult is well advanced. 

3d television is emerging as a radical and potentially disruptive innovation. As usual, availability of complementary goods (content) is a key element in stimulating diffusion, but this time Panasonic is taking an interesting twist to this story. Instead of relying on partnerships with traditional creators and distributors of content (movie producers and broadcasting operators), it is wondering whether a 3d YouTube coiuld be the real solution. Of course, this could lead to completely different business models.

Realising the limitations of their own knowledge, and internal R&D capabilities, an increasingly high number of companies are currently making the decision of partnering externally to develop new technologies. Companies' interactions with their business partners or even competitors are becoming more and more frequent. Since the potential for innovation increases consequently when people from various background interact, co-innovation or co-development partnerships are very efficient means to innovate. The term co-innovation, or co-development, refers to the extension of external partnerships and alliances in order to have access to, and to exploit new knowledge, new technologies, or new markets.

La casa tedesca e quella cinese si sono accordate, tramite una joint-venture, per produrre in Cina auto elettriche da lanciare sui mercati asiatici, dove nei prossimi anno dovrebbe proseguire l'aumento delle vendite di automobili. Mercedes apporteranno il know-how relativo alle architetture di prodotto, mentre la BYD si occuperà principalmente dello sviluppo delle batterie. Tramite la joint-venture, Mercedes potrà accedere al mercato locale - infatti attuamente in Cina le case straniere devono fare accordi con le case locali per poter aver accesso al mercato - e sviluppare le batterie, componente costosa e fondamentale delle auto elettriche, con notevoli risparmi.

Mr. Joshi (the head of Hewlett-Packard's $24 billion printing empire) has spent years disputing the notion that people will print less as they do more on their hand-held devices. This week, he will see his ideas put into action as H.P. introduces a fleet of printers with Web access, their own e-mail addresses and touch screens. These products should open up new ways for people to print from Web services like Google Docs, and from smartphones and devices like the iPad from Apple. Mr. Joshi is going back to his roots as an engineer - as a young H.P. researcher, he figured out a way to make ink cartridges fire 45 million drops - and relying on new technologies, not slick marketing. But still, he will have to prove that customers will change their behavior and print more if given the right tools. That, Mr. Reitzes said, is crucial to how investors will evaluate the long-term prospects of H.P. "Investors are worried about printing," he said. "It's really important that they get this right." As the world's largest technology company, H.P. sells a wide variety of products but got much of its profit from printers and their pricey ink. More recently, H.P. has built up a large technology services arm as well, which has helped round out its business. But the printing division accounts for about a fifth of its revenue and a third of its profits. The new printers - which build on a limited experiment last year - will range in price from $99 to about $400. Every one will come with what H.P. executives billed as a breakthrough feature - its very own e-mail address. H.P.'s engineers hit on the e-mail address as an easy, familiar way for people to send print jobs to the Web-ready printers. You can, for example, take a photo with a phone, e-mail it to your printer's address and have the printout waiting for you at home. Or, you can share the printer's e-mail address with family and friends. This means that someone can buy Grandma a Web-ready printe