Open innovation

This issue of eIQ focuses on open innovation, the idea that companies will create future generations of products and services as much through partnerships, licensing and corporate ventures as through their own efforts. It also sets the scene for the Annual Conference in June, which will explore the R&D potential of Central and Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, assess the global context for R&D, and consider the challenges and opportunities provided by the radical change that lies ahead.

Open innovation throws up many challenges for organisations that have traditionally sourced all the new knowledge they need internally. Our first feature looks at one of the most important practical issues – how do you transfer technology effectively from an outside source into you organisation? The second feature addresses one of the consequences of open innovation – if you’re going to find new knowledge outside the organisation, then what is the value of the work being done within it? The feature discusses strategies to market the value of innovation within organisations, in part to make it a more valuable currency in negotiations with external partners.

Some companies have based their business models around open innovation from the beginning. In our first Viewpoint, Stephen Doel of microprocessor design licensor ARM discusses how his company has flourished by building a rich ecosystem of partners around its offering. In our second Viewpoint, Frédérique Sachwald of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research considers possible public policy responses to open innovation, and comes to some surprising conclusions.

Other pieces look at how to align global IP strategies for open innovation, and discuss implementing strategy in the kind of global R&D organisations that will become increasingly common under open innovation.

News articles include a look at the conclusions of the OECD’s research into open innovation, and some insights from the EIRMA Global Open Focus Group’s recent study trip to Bangalore, India. There’s also a report on a study of the effectiveness of the Sixth Framework Programme, surely one of the largest open innovation projects to date, and the results of a global survey on rewarding innovation.

Our Country Profile focuses on India, a rapidly developing source of intellectual talent.

Look out for the eIQ Action Points, bullet points of ideas to remember and implement in your organisation, embedded at the bottom of each major feature and directly accessible from the links below.

The detailed contents are as follows:

News - Open innovation challenges the role of CTOs, senior managers, public policy

Chief technology officers, senior managers, public policymakers and many others will have to reconsider their approach to research, development and innovation as global open innovation networks emerge, according to a study carried out by the OECD.

News - Rewards for innovation vary strongly by region, according to global survey

The rewards for individual innovators who file patents, develop new products or create new processes depend strongly on where their companies are based, according to a global survey of industrial R&D managers.

News - Face to face with the globalisation of R&D in India

India offers a rich source of young, high-quality science and engineering talent that is well equipped to tackle research and development tasks for global markets, according to first reports from a study trip to Bangalore by EIRMA’s Global Open Focus Group.

News - Expert group calls for expanded Framework Programme to tackle global economic crisis

The next European Framework Programme for research and development should focus on global excellence through European collaboration and competition, becoming a game-changing effort that is perhaps two or three times its current size.

Feature - Translating science into innovation

This article looks at the techniques available to help translate results from outside an organisation into effective innovations within it.

eIQ Action Points - Making technology transfer work

Feature – Marketing the value of R&D

This article discusses how R&D organisations can market their value within their organisations, through engagement with senior management and the business units, service provision and even self-promotion.

eIQ Action Points – Marketing the value of R&D

Aligning global IP strategies for open innovation

This article looks at some of the issues involved in developing consistent intellectual property policies in large multinationals as countries around the world evolve their attitudes to invention and innovation.

eIQ Action Points – Aligning global IP strategies for open innovation

This article is based on discussions of the EIRMA special interest group on intellectual property

View from the innovation ecosystem at ARM

This article describes how a small Cambridge company has used open innovation to become a vital part of the global electronics industry.

eIQ Action Points – using open innovation to build a market position

by Stephen Doel, director, technology and research programs, ARM

View from the public policy debate about open innovation

This article discusses how public policy might adapt to the increasing use of open innovation strategies, such as unlocking the power of public procurement, rethinking clustering, and focusing support for SMEs more carefully.

eIQ Action Points – rethinking public policy in the light of open innovation

by Frédérique Sachwald, adviser to the strategy directorate and head of the business research and development unit at the French Ministry of higher education and research

Issue 16 spring 09