Open innovation: What are the big issues?

The open innovation movement is growing fast and I really enjoy my many interactions with innovation leaders on this topic. Recently, I have begun thinking much on what the big issues really are and here I give you my take on this. Hopefully, we can work together to compile a list of key issues and later provide some answers to these issues.

Just to set the scene, I am becoming more and more convinced that open innovation is much more about mindset than processes. Of course, you need processes, but if you – as I do – apply the very broad definition of open innovation  being  the opposite of doing everything yourself, then you understand that almost every company already applies some kind of open innovation today. Some are just further ahead than others. This lead is most often caused by a mindset that says open innovation is the future of innovation and that competitive advantages can be created through this approach.

Let’s move back to the issues. I have created some categories with each having several questions. Here we go.

Leadership:

Innovation starts at the top. Most executives do not get traditional innovation. So how are you going to make them understand open innovation? What keeps top executives from jumping right into open innovation?

The organization:

In my view, this category is the most important and thus this raises a lot of questions for me. How should your organization approach open innovation? How do you create a strong commitment to open innovation within your organization? How do you organize for open innovation? How do you tear down the silos within your company? What is the role of your innovation leaders and your employees? What is required of them? How do you develop the proper mindset and skills of your employees? How do you develop a more holistic view of innovation among your innovation leaders and employees? What are the basic organizational innovation capabilities your organization need to have in place before you embark on the open innovation journey? How will your organizational chart change to accommodate open innovation? How do you transform the systems, processes, values, and culture across your company?

You as an individual:

What will open innovation mean to your role as an executive, leader or employee? How can you become a contributor on open innovation rather than a stumbling block? Do you have the mindset and skills needed for open innovation? If not, how can you acquire this? Are you even in the right company or should you seek other opportunities?

Your partners:

What kind of collaborations do you want to engage in? What common vision and mission will you share with partners? Which kind of strategies do you apply to create the right balance of control and contribution with your partners? How do you create future business models that not only work for you but also for your partners? How do you best share your experiences, successes and failures with your partners? How do you align the efforts and understanding of open innovation when you work with companies having different levels of innovation maturity? Which kind of marketplaces should you engage with and how should you do it?

Benefits, challenges and stumbling blocks:

What are the benefits and challenges of open innovation? Which indicators can you apply to measure the state and progress on this? What potential stumbling blocks might you need to deal with?

Different industries:

Fast-moving consumer goods companies have different opportunities and challenges than industrial or service-based companies. But what are the differences? And what are the similarities? How can companies learn from and inspire each other across different industries?

Different geography:

Companies in rapidly developing economies have a different background, mindset and toolbox than most Western companies. Again, how can companies learn from and inspire each other across continents? Can companies in the developing economies skip the traditional innovation thinking of the Western world and move directly to open innovation? If so, what challenges and opportunities do this create for both sides?

Tools and infrastructure:

What kind of tools and systems should you apply to accommodate open innovation? How will open innovation affect your IT-infrastructure?

Tipping-points:

According to Malcolm Gladwell, tipping points are “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.” What are the tipping points on open innovation? It could be interesting to understand this on the leadership, organizational, partners, IPR and other categories listed above.

This is my brain dump on big issues on open innovation. Let me know what you think and please feel free to chip in.