Open innovation is a democratic approach centred on collaboration. In effect, internal and external resources replace traditional siloed R&D processes.

Moreover, a study by The Economist relayed by VentureBeat shows that 95% of companies practice open innovation, including 54% on all or most of their projects.

What are the pillars of open innovation?

Respondents to The Economist survey explain that they have been very quick to put in place the main pillars of open innovation. In more detail, these are :

• Set up a team dedicated to this process
• Systematise the open innovationprocess , with associated measurement indicators
• Adopt tools and technologies to facilitate and accelerate the process

In what context should open innovation be implemented?

This type of approach can be implemented in any company wishing to develop new products, services or more efficient processes.

But it can also be implemented in a logic ofcontinuous improvement, to improve existing products, services or processes. And all this, of course, thanks to feedback from employees, customers and other stakeholders.

What are the obstacles to open innovation?

Certain barriers hinder or block the proper development of open innovation approaches in organisations. The 2 main barriers are the following:

• The time this can take from staff
• The cost of a dedicated team

Just behind them are the following obstacles:

• 27% in The Economist study mention the managerial and organisational complexity of implementing such an approach
• 25% indicate that their company is not sufficiently up-to-date from a technologicalpoint of view
• Also 25% talk about risks in terms of regulation of ideas and projects
• And finally, 23% describe a gap in expectations between the company and the people in it

The good news is that almost all respondents, 91% of them, acknowledge that their organisation is increasing the budget for innovation projects and will continue to do so over the next 3 years.

What results?

According to the VentureBeats article, the results of the Economist study are quite clear. Indeed, organisations that have a structured and effective open innovation approach are more competitive in their market.

More importantly, companies gain a wider customer base, acquire new skills, improve their brand awareness, manage research costs and save valuable time.

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