2010-01-22 | Open Innovation and other forms of organization to perform innovation projects

The success of many companies is based on long-term research and development (R + D), which is integrated in an innovation strategy. There exist different forms of organization to perform innovation projects. (1) Companies define and carry out their own research and development projects. (2) In public private partnerships companies cooperate with public research institutions, in order to work together on projects. (3) Funded research and development projects are popular, too. Consortia composed of several companies and scientific institutions work on common research projects, which are funded by the public authority. (4) Moreover open innovation is also available for companies as a (new?) form of organization of innovation management. Based on this approach the innovation process is open, so that customers and suppliers are involved in the research and development process, and can influence the innovation activities of the company. The contents, e. g. ideas of future products and services, are "open" meaning transparent for all involved persons.

In this C-LAB report the four different forms of organization for innovation projects and their prospects and challenges are discussed. The qualitative comparison is based on practical experiences and examples of C-LAB.

Authors:Dr. Gernot Gräfe (Siemens AG), Birgit Plaßmann (Universität Paderborn)
Release:Vol. 9 (2010) No. 01
Pages:26

Link to Report