To my mind, the most important element in a successful innovation chain is coordinating and aligning the efforts of the various partners. That ensures that everyone is performing their role effectively and that we can implement all the pieces we are responsible for and pass them on to the next stakeholder in the chain in a coordinated and organized manner. And anything that prevents clear communication and cooperative working relationships would be a barrier to innovation.
On April 9th, 2014. See this statement in context.