Introduction to eIQ16
This issue of eIQ focuses on open innovation
News
Open innovation challenges the role of CTOs, senior managers, and public policymakersRewards for innovation vary strongly by region, according to global surveyFace to face with the globalisation of R&D in IndiaExpert group calls for expanded Framework Programme to tackle economic crisis
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A day in the life of... Wieke Boon, manager of continuous improvement at Corus RD&T
This article discusses how Research, Development and Technology at Corus has implemented continuous improvement and strategy deployment schemes before and since the company’s acquisition by Tata Steel.
Country profile: India
Research and development is a cornerstone of the economy of modern India.
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Rewards for innovation vary strongly by region, according to 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. The results suggest that companies that are doing research outside their home countries need to think carefully about developing consistent award schemes and incentive policies that also fit with local practices.

For example, 96% of Japanese companies surveyed would give an innovator a financial reward for producing something patentable: in the US an inventor is much more likely (56%) to get a plaque than money (38%).

The situation is reversed for product innovation, where an innovator in Japan is more likely to get a plaque (68%) and a US innovator is more likely to get money (54%). Pity the Korean product innovator, though: 55% of the Korean companies sampled don’t give any recognition for a product innovation.

The situation is different in process innovation, where the European, US, Korean and Japanese companies sampled agree that the best form of recognition is a financial reward: overall 56% of the companies in the survey paid for new process ideas.

Attitudes to the business value of an innovation, rather than its technical excellence, also vary between regions. For example, just 33% of European businesses surveyed said they pay differing amounts for patents that have a significant financial impact on their businesses than for ones that don’t. In Japan the figure is 84%, showing that Japan rewards patentable ideas that help grow the business more highly than good science for which an application has yet to be found.

The survey also appears to show that European companies are the least consistent about how they reward their innovators around the world. Of the European firms surveyed, 58% said they would pay differing rewards for a patentable invention depending where the innovator was based. The US appeared to be the most consistent in giving rewards, with just 22% of American companies surveyed saying that their rewards for a patent or process innovation would vary by the innovator’s location, and just 20% saying the same for a product innovation.

The research surveyed 12 European, 50 US, 80 Korean and 25 Japanese companies. It was carried out by America’s Industrial Research Institute, with the support of member companies from EIRMA, the Korea Industry Technology Association (KOITA), and the Japan Techno–Economics Society (JATES).

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