Open Innovation – A Brief Introduction

Open innovation denotes a strategic approach where businesses invite not just internal but also external participation in idea generation and problem-solving. It is a process that seeks to harness shared knowledge and insights from various sources, both inside and outside the organization, to spark innovation and generate novel solutions.

This approach manifests in different forms, including long-term partnerships such as Delphi and Mobileye's collaboration on autonomous driving systems, co-creation competitions like the BMW startup challenge, and crowdsourcing platforms exemplified by 'My Starbucks Idea'. Contrary to the guarded, siloed approach typical of conventional business R&D, open innovation fosters a more inclusive, distributed, and decentralized style of innovation.