From idea to impact: 3M’s culture of innovation and collaboration

In this episode, we are joined by Jens Eichler, Hydrogen Technology and Business Architect at 3M, to explore how they nurture ideas through its celebrated 15% Culture, which encourages employees to set aside a portion of their work time to proactively cultivate and pursue innovative ideas that excite them.

Jens shares how this approach empowers employees to pursue entrepreneurial projects, foster collaboration across departments, and even build meaningful partnerships with universities.

With lessons on failing fast, embracing openness, and finding synergy between industry and academia, Jens provides valuable insights for organisations striving to create environments where ideas can flourish and turn into real impact.

You can read a summary below, and listen to the full interview in our podcast:

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Summary

Empowering innovation through 15% culture

3M is widely recognised for its culture of innovation, but what makes it stand out is the celebrated 15% culture—a philosophy that empowers employees to dedicate part of their time to pursue entrepreneurial ideas without needing approval from managers.

The roots of this culture trace back to the 1920s, when Richard Drew defied instructions to stop working on masking tape and ultimately created one of 3M’s most iconic products. Since then, success stories like Post-it Notes have cemented the importance of freedom, serendipity, and persistence in turning ideas into impact.

The three phases of innovation

According to Jens Eichler, ideas typically evolve through three phases: learning, connecting, and promoting. Employees are encouraged to explore curiosity, connect with colleagues across departments, and champion their ideas until they gain traction. If ideas are not actively shared and promoted, they risk fading away, making persistence and advocacy critical elements of innovation.

Support structures such as Tech Forum, peer-to-peer committees, and an internal award system help create safe spaces for experimentation and recognition.

Culture backed from the top, lived from the bottom

While 3M’s leadership strongly endorses the 15% culture, it is employees who bring it to life. With dual career paths, senior technical experts often mentor colleagues, provide seed funding, and open doors to internal grants that can push ideas further. This creates a culture where failures are not punished but seen as stepping stones for future breakthroughs.

“An innovation culture has to be supported from the top, but lived from the bottom up”.

Collaboration across boundaries

3M encourages interdisciplinary and cross-regional collaboration. Annual Tech Forum events, virtual poster halls, and a culture of openness enable employees to find unexpected synergies. One such collaboration between dental experts and materials scientists led to a new platform for thermal management technologies, an area now core to 3M.

Connecting with universities

The 15% culture also extends to collaborations with external partners, particularly universities. Internal grants often support testing partnerships where academic institutions bring specialised capabilities, such as facilities for liquid hydrogen storage experiments.

“Most often, we provide the materials and the university provides the testing capabilities — that’s where collaborations really thrive”.

Clear agreements on roles and intellectual property are crucial, but Eichler stresses that not every partnership needs to succeed. Some will naturally fail, and that’s part of the process.

Lessons for universities and businesses

For universities and other organisations looking to strengthen collaboration, 3M’s approach provides key lessons: empower individuals, celebrate small wins, embrace serendipity, and create structures that enable safe experimentation. Above all, trust and openness remain central.

“Fail fast and fail safe. Out of ten collaborations, maybe one or two will succeed, but those can make all the difference”.

Ready for more?

Curious about who drives collaboration on the ground? In the article Who really makes university-business collaboration happen? Insights into academic and business collaborators, we explore the key roles and motivations of academics and business professionals who turn partnerships into reality.
From another perspective, The future of university collaboration through CRM and culture change, with Aalto University shows how Aalto is embedding CRM not just as a tool, but as a cultural shift to break silos, align data and strengthen engagement with partners.

Stay tuned for the next episode on this series and don’t forget to follow us on your preferred podcast platform!