Research: open innovation gaining momentum

Large U.S. and European companies embrace the concept of open innovation, but firms are still learning how to get better results by combining external input with internal ideas to advance their technology, processes or services, a new study co-led by a Purdue University researcher shows.Purdue technology and innovation professor Sabine Brunswicker and Henry Chesbrough, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, surveyed 125 large firms in the United States with annual sales in excess of $250 million. Their study concluded that open innovation is widely practiced and that companies are significantly boosting management support to enhance activity for the practice.

The study results are published in a paper titled, "A Fad or a Phenomenon? The Adoption of Open Innovation Practices in Large Firms," in the March-April edition of Research Technology Management. It represents the first large-scale survey to probe the extent to which open innovation is being practiced in large firms.

The term open innovation, which has been gaining momentum in recent years, builds on a concept from the 1960s when companies expanded their cooperative efforts in the research and development areas, coupling external input with internal ideas for advancing their technology or innovative processes and services. Brunswicker's research focuses on open innovation as director of the Research Center for Open Digital Innovation.

Read the full release from Purdue University.

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