Does Innovation matter? Is Open Innovation a new buzzword?

The research efforts in the field of innovation have recently started to focus in companies that were opening up their R+D processes, to both include ideas from outside and to share with others ideas that were generated in the company. This new approach for the R+D process has been successfully conceptualized by Henry Chesbrough (Berkeley University) as the Open Innovation paradigm. From the Innova Institute we are closely studying how companies are actually adopting Open Innovation frameworks, how they are benefiting from the process change and the implications for their business model and strategy. The definition of the Open Innovation phenomena builds upon the limitations of the traditional model of an innovation process, exclusively dependent on the ideas and inputs generated internally in the R+D departments. Open Innovation embraces that organizations can and have to use external and internal ideas (Chesbrough 2003a) to deliver value to customers. An extensive attention is given to the processes that support the idea exchange, defined as "outside in" and "inside out" processes. Open Innovation is receiving substantial attention from the academic community, both in number of articles published and presence in conferences. Recently, it was the main theme in the ISPIM Syposium (December 2009) in New York (USA).The Innovation Symposium included the presentation of papers on business models (by Väätänen and Podmentina), outbound technology commercialization strategies (by Savitskaya, Kutvonen) and the linkage of Open Innovation and innovation networks (by Golnam, Valkokari) among others. In the Innova Institute, our research projects on Open Innovation are mainly focusing on the challenges that this framework generates for SME companies. In our research projects we posit that Organizations that are interested in the benefits of Open Innovation also need to take into account the challenges that it poses in the governance of this process, highlighting the need to put in place mechanisms to capture part of the value generated and to ensure the right "fit" with the strategy of the company. In our current case analysis we have identified diverse adoption strategies of the Open Innovation paradigm, better adjusting to the different needs and competitive requirements of the organization, therefore suggesting the limitations of a unique approach for Open Innovation adoption. We are willing to report on these results in forthcoming posts. References and other resources: Chesbrough, H.W. 2003a, "The Era of Open Innovation", MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. Spring, pp. 35-41 Chesbrough, H.W. 2003b, Open innovation: the new imperative for creating and profiting from technology, 1st Ed., Harvard Business School Press, Boston. Center of Open Innovation at Berkeley ISPIM Symposium 2009 NY (USA) Programme Joel West (Open Innovation books co-author) Blog