Open innovation involves a company embracing the concept of welcoming external collaborators to improve their innovation capability which might mean a change in cultural mindset. This guide was put together following a series of interviews and workshops involving 36 firms and identifies the main enablers and obstacles for open innovation.
A finding of the report was that ‘open innovation is an innovation in itself’ and therefore has to be effectively managed right from the beginning if it is to be successfully implemented.
For nearly all of the companies involved in the study, the move towards an open approach to innovation necessitated the direct involvement of top management so that working with other companies became accepted and endorsed throughout the organisation.
The report’s research concludes that the four main issues which companies have to address when introducing a culture of open innovation are:
- Culture
- Procedures
- Skills
- Motivation
The participating companies were of different sizes, had differing levels of expertise and experience in open innovation and were drawn from a wide range of industries.
The guide, published by the Institute of Manufacturing, has been designed to highlight the challenges in implementing open innovation and will be of particular interest to top managers (CEO, CTO), and senior managers of R&D and supply chains in companies that are setting out to implement an open innovation strategy.
Read the full workbook:
How to implement open innovation: Lessons from studying large multinational companies, Dr Letizia Mortara, Johann Napp, Imke Slacik and Dr Tim Minshall, IfM, 2009
Recommended by David Probert, post by R&D Today admin
