Case Studies on Open Innovation in ICT

The study builds upon 13 case studies of innovative ICT and ICT-enabled European companies. These 13 case studies include four large companies and nine SMEs. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of Open Innovation strategies on companies’ innovation procedures and to highlight the role of ICT in Open Innovation processes. The Open Innovation (OI) paradigm is broadly defined as the shift from a traditional closed and controlled R&D and innovation environment towards open and flexible models (Chesbrough 2003, Chesbrough and Crowther, 2006; Gassman and Enkel, 2004; Enkel et al. 2009). An Open Innovation strategy (OIS) aims to redefine the boundaries between the company and its surrounding environment, making the firm more porous and embedded in loosely-coupled networks of different actors, collectively and individually working towards creating and commercializing new knowledge. Furthermore, the concept of Open Innovation is related to that of the open business model, since the link between technology and new business models is strengthened by the intensive use of Open Innovation. With the rise of Web 2.0, a new generation of business models has emerged, and converged in the new paradigm of Open Innovation 2.0 (Curley and Salmelin, 2013). This new paradigm involves “principles of integrated collaboration, co-created shared values, cultivated innovation ecosystem, unleashed exponential technologies, and extraordinarily rapid adoption” (Alexy et al., 2013). Open Innovation is a strategy that extends well beyond the R&D department, and embraces many company functions. Large companies implement Open Innovation strategies in a very different way to SMEs.