Open Innovation

By Author: mohanchen
Total Articles: 431
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Open Innovation is one of the ramifications of the Innovation Economy which is based on the premise that competitive advantage derives from how well you use know-how, not what know-how you have. The understanding of the ability to use know-how well in a particular problem space is a hard to copy advantage that requires investment, development, and in most cases, sustained effort over a long period of time. This is why it is a source of competitive advantage.

Open Innovation is the current de-rigor fashionable business model amongst innovators in many industries. It is especially popular in industries where products do not have very great levels of differentiation, like fast moving consumer goods. It is equally well adopted for industries where the products are very differentiated, like aerospace.

On the other hand, companies that have chosen not to pursue Open Innovation are tending to lag competitors. This is because they are forced to rely only on their own R&D efforts, rather than taking what's best from industry around them. Failing ...
... to share is turning out to be a significant competitive dis-advantage.

People talk about open innovation. It's the mantra of leadership experts and workplace counselors across the business landscape. But internal versus external innovation also presents a dichotomy. Often conflicting in nature, many proponents of open innovation get tripped up on why external innovation can fail to take root.

In my opinion, the paradox is easily answered: External innovation is destined to fail if the imperatives of internal innovation have not first been developed, deployed and adhered to. Workplace pundits extol the virtues of external innovation, but if innovation isn't alive and thriving internally, innovation itself will fall on the scrapheap of failed initiatives.

Inventing something new or innovating something new is no longer an eureka moment. What we are seeing are small and incremental innovative changes happening all around us. The path breaking innovation are few and getting relegated once in a decade phenomenon.

Today, your idea, your thought, your need might already be getting discussed, sought on, worked on - in part of the world. You need to collaborate with other people to understand the similar needs, ideas and thoughts. You will need to discuss, look at the idea from multiple perspective(s), understand the need of the global market to give shape to your idea.
Social Networking tools like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter are trying to fulfill this gap. The exponential growth of the Facebook and twitter is testimony to the fact that the user's are more then willing to share information, talk to each other and exchange ideas.