Open innovation and business competitiveness

Open Innovation, also called Open Innovation, is a key concept in the contemporary business landscape, which suggests that companies cannot generate all innovations internally, They must work with external actors to access knowledge, ideas and technologies, which is essential in a global and changing environment. 

Based on a collaborative approach, this concept has revolutionised the way in which companies develop new ideas, products and solutions, promoting knowledge, ideas and resources from various sources with the aim of solving problems. 

Historically, companies have promoted innovation through a closed process, limiting their research and development projects to their own internal scope. 

The break with this traditional model of conception, promoted by the concept of Open Innovation, popularized in the book by Professor Henry Chesbrough, of the University of California, Berkeley (USA); has made it possible to understand that, in the age of information and globalization, Firms must adopt an open innovation strategy to remain competitive. 

This process involves transcending organizational boundaries and encouraging the collaboration of enterprises with their environment. A concrete example to cite is when a company collaborates and partners with other companies, startups, universities and research centers, and participates in events and conferences of the industry. 

This approach emphasizes how technologies and open collaboration can revolutionize the innovation process, becoming a key strategy for creating and marketing new technologies in a competitive global market.  

From a multidisciplinary and technological view of open innovation, external ideas can be integrated and shared smoothly by fostering a digital collaboration network. So, instead of companies working exclusively within their own boundaries, Open Innovation promotes open collaboration with the outside, leveraging ideas, technologies and resources both internal and external to the organization.  

In practice, companies that adhere to this paradigm open themselves up to the participation of different actors to develop solutions, tackle new challenges and find solutions to their problems in a more effective way. 

Chesbrough’s book highlights that in an interconnected world, companies wishing to remain competitive must be willing to share knowledge, technologies and experiences. Rather than relying solely on their own research and development (R & D) department, they should explore partnerships with universities, start-ups, external laboratories, competitors and other entities.  

Open Innovation also involves licensing external technologies and commercializing internal innovations that cannot be exploited directly.  

Implementar estratègies de vendes enfocades en la personalització i la diferenciació, són crucials per a enfocar i adaptar aquestes estratègies, a les necessitats de cada client, en funció dels objectius prèviament establerts a aconseguir a mitjà i llarg termini.

From what has been said so far, we understand that open innovation offers benefits to companies operating in a global collaboration programme which are substantial within the framework of a globalised economy.  

Among these, we can mention: 

However, open innovation is characterized by a number of key elements which clearly differentiate it from traditional closed innovation models. Among their distinctions, we find: 

• External collaboration: it is based on the collaboration with external agents of the company, such as startups, universities, competitors and customers to develop new ideas and technologies.
• Knowledge exchange: promotes the transfer of knowledge and technology both within and outside the organization.
• Flexible business models: enables companies to respond better to changing environments and new market needs.
• Diversification of sources: uses a variety of sources for innovation, including new actors in the R & D & I process.
• Use of digital tools: benefits from the use of digital tools to facilitate collaboration and information sharing.

Open Innovation is more than a trend, it is the evolution of the traditional closed concept of innovation, towards cutting-edge ideas that encourage collaborative work building bridges to the future, promoting sustainable and continuous growth. It is a process of business innovation in which internal and external ideas are combined within different architectures, platforms and systems outside the same company.  

Open innovation can be applied to different contexts and markets, as it is not restricted to the corporate environment, which makes it possible to apply it in other scenarios such as social, political, artistic, etc. It provides the possibility of contacting organizations of different kinds, promotes proximity and knowledge with new opportunities and creative solutions to complex problems.