Innovation Facilitation. How can Companies Discover their Innovation Potential?

Abstract or Introduction

This article delves into the concept of open innovation, as defined by Henry Chesbrough in 2003, emphasizing the utilization of both inflows and outflows of knowledge to enhance internal innovation and expand external markets. It contrasts open innovation with the traditional closed innovation model, highlighting the shift toward openness, particularly among SMEs and startups. Additionally, it categorizes open innovation into inside-out and outside-in processes, underscoring the multifaceted advantages of the latter, such as accessing external expertise, aligning innovation with customer needs, and leveraging crowdsourcing for cost-effective idea generation and problem-solving. Open innovation emerges as a strategic approach suited for resource-constrained entities like SMEs.

Henry Chesbrough coined the term of open innovation in his book "Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology" which was published in 2003. He defined open innovation method as the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively. Practically, Open Innovation is more decentralized approach towards innovation. While adapting the open innovation approach, businesses and companies distribute knowledge. Not only they incorporate external ideas, inventions into their invention, but they also expose internally developed technologies, ideas and inventions to other companies and businesses. Thus, this process makes the invention process more open.