How open is innovation

There is currently a broad awareness of open innovation and its relevance to corporate R&D. The implications and trends that underpin open innovation are actively discussed in terms of strategic, organizational, behavioral, knowledge, legal and business perspectives and its economic implications. This special issue aims to advance the R&D, innovation, and technology management perspective by building on past and present studies in the field and providing future directions. 
Recent research, including the papers in this special issue, demonstrates an increasing range of situations where the concept is regarded as applicable. Most research to date has followed the outside-in process of open innovation, while the inside-out process remains less explored. A third coupled process of open innovation is also attracting significant research attention. These different processes show why it is necessary to have a full understanding of how and where open innovation can add value in knowledge-intensive processes. There may be a need for a creative interpretation and adaptation of the value propositions, or business models, in each situation. In other words, there are important implications for new and emerging methods of R&D management.

/pdf/open-r-d-and-open-innovation-exploring-the-phenomenon-cf8q08ihgf.pdf

Open R&D and open innovation: exploring the phenomenon

https://www.rug.nl/staff/k.r.e.huizingh/openinnovationstate.pdf

Open innovation: State of the art and future perspectives

This article reviews research on open innovation that considers how and why firms commercialize external sources of innovations. It examines both the “outside-in” and “coupled” modes of Enkel et al. (2009). From an analysis of prior research on how firms leverage external sources of innovation, it suggests a four-phase model in which a linear process — (1) obtaining, (2) integrating and (3) commercializing external innovations — is combined with (4) interaction between the firm and its collaborators. This model is used to classify papers taken from the top 25 innovation journals identified by Linton and Thongpapan (2004), complemented by highly cited work beyond those journals. A review of 291 open innovation-related publications from these sources shows that the majority of these articles indeed address elements of this inbound open innovation process model. Specifically, it finds that researchers have front-loaded their examination of the leveraging process, with an emphasis on obtaining innovations from external sources. However, there is a relative dearth of research related to integrating and commercializing these innovations.Research on obtaining innovations includes searching, enabling, filtering, and acquiring — each category with its own specific set of mechanisms and conditions. Integrating innovations has been mostly studied from an absorptive capacity perspective, with less attention given to the impact of competencies and culture (including not-invented-here). Commercializing innovations puts the most emphasis on how external innovations create value rather than how firms capture value from those innovations. Finally, the interaction phase considers both feedback for the linear process and reciprocal innovation processes such as co-creation, network collaboration and community innovation.This review and synthesis suggests several gaps in prior research. One is a tendency to ignore the importance of business models, despite their central role in distinguishing open innovation from earlier research on inter-organizational collaboration in innovation. Another gap is a tendency in open innovation to use “innovation” in a way inconsistent with earlier definitions in innovation management. The article concludes with recommendations for future research that include examining the end-to-end innovation commercialization process, and studying the moderators and limits of leveraging external sources of innovation.

Leveraging External Sources of Innovation: A Review of Research on Open Innovation

Besides acquiring external knowledge, many firms have begun to actively commercialize technology, for example, by means of out-licensing. This increase in inward and outward technology transactions reflects the new paradigm of open innovation. Most prior research into open innovation is limited to theoretical considerations and case studies, whereas other lines of research have focused either on external technology acquisition or exploitation. In an integrative view, we consider inward and outward technology transactions as the main directions of open innovation. Moreover, technology aggressiveness, which constitutes an important dimension of technology strategy, is identified as a major determinant of open innovation. Data from a survey of 154 industrial firms are used to test three hypotheses relating technology aggressiveness, external technology acquisition, and external technology exploitation. In addition, clusters of firms with homogeneous strategies regarding technology aggressiveness and open innovation are identified.

Opening up the innovation process: the role of technology aggressiveness

External technology commercialization (ETC), i.e., the commercialization of technological knowledge exclusively or in addition to its application inside the firm, has recently become a broader trend. However, this increase in outward technology transfer, e.g., by means of technology licensing, has been insufficiently reflected by academic research. Thus, we lack a detailed understanding of the evolution and the current scope of ETC, which represents an important component of technology portfolio management. Moreover, our insights into the functions of ETC and into firms' strategies, processes, and structures for managing ETC are limited. To address these research deficits, we present the results of a questionnaire-based benchmarking study in 154 medium-sized and large European firms spanning multiple industries. Thus, this article is among the first studies that provide quantitative empirical evidence for the current scope and management of ETC. After an introduction and theoretical considerations, the research design is described. Subsequently, the results of the survey are presented. In the final section, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, and opportunities for further research are pointed out.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/radm_487.pdf?abstractid=1024360&mirid=2

Ulrich Lichtenthaler

Papers

Opening up the innovation process: the role of technology aggressiveness

External technology commercialization in large firms: results of a quantitative benchmarking study

Alliance functions: implications of the international multi-R&D-alliance perspective