Open innovation: so far and a way forward
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Pages | 30-41 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20425941311313083 |
| Author | Mokter Hossain |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management |
Open innovation: so far and
a way forward
Mokter Hossain
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management,
Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify strategic and tactical factors that are crucial to
explore, in future, to get insight into the open innovation spectrum.
Design/methodol ogy/approach – The st udy is based on literatu re review. To explore
progress and future needs of open innovation studies, various contributory papers have been
consulted and analyzed.
Findings – Definition of open innovation is yet to be clear-cut. What open innovation is and what it is
not, is still being debated. Moreover, open innovation overlaps other concepts such as user generation,
crowdsourcing, and distributed innovation. Even though research on open innovation has
significantly grown, there are still many issues that need to be addressed to get insight about open
innovation in various contexts. Studies are mostly performed in the context of large firms and in
developed countries. Research in the context of developing countries is still almost an untouched area.
Open innovation in the small to medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) context has gained a foothold just
recently. It is crucial to explore some managerial challenges, such as technology transfer, inbound
and outbound process, absorptive and desorptive capacity development, particularly in the global
open innovation context and it is essential to investigate how open innovation can be implemented
for sustainable development.
Originality/value – This study is one of the few, if not onlyone, that has reviewed the trend of open
innovation research and its practical implementation. Both researchers and practitioners will get a
snapshot of open innovation and its growing necessity in the business wo rld.Some issues have been
highlighted, so that future study can be focused in those directions.
Keywords Open innovation, Challenges, Technology transfer, Intermediaries, Intellectual property,
Small to medium-sized enterprises, Sustainable development
Paper type General review
Introduction
Open innovation concept has received tremendous attention from, both academicians
and practitioners. The concept has been an explosion in the innovation function
of many firms since it was introduced by Chesbrough (2003). He defines open
innovation as “paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use exter nal ideas
as well as internal ideas, and internal an d external paths to market, as the firms look
to advance their technology.” This concept has become a commonplace across all
technological industries (Weiss and Drewry, 2011). Open innovation concept emphasis
on sharing knowledge within and among organizations (Abouzeedan and Hedner,
2012). However, most firms still struggle with how to implement open innovation
concept in their business portfolios (Enkel et al., 2009; Minshall et al., 2010). Company
and industry press are full of growing triumph of flourishing trend of open innovation
(Haydock, 2011; Sheridan, 2011). Open innovation is growingly adopted in various
disciplines, such as economics, sociology, energy, anthropology, psychology, etc.
Despite its flourishing growth, critics are continuously throwing sarcastic remarks
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5945.htm
WorldJour nal of Science, Technology
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 10 No. 1, 2013
pp. 30-41
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
2042-5945
DOI 10.1108/20425941311313083 The author is grateful to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for financing this study.
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