Why open innovation and ecosystems is the best opportunity for startups (2012)

This 2012 presentation by Jean-Yves Huwart of Global Enterprise examined open innovation as a method of technology transfer and considered the risks of sharing ideas. The visible slides divided the discussion into three parts: the history of open innovation, the growing importance of startup collaboration for larger companies, and ways to share without having ideas stolen. The historical section described innovation as having moved from closed internal processes toward patent and intellectual-property trading, joint research by companies and universities, and the development of science parks and clusters. It then argued that innovation had shifted outward, particularly toward Tier 1 suppliers, using Foxconn and its relationships with Amazon, Nintendo and Apple as an example. A later visible slide called for platform approaches and featured Jim Whitehurst of Red Hat. The closing slide associated the presentation with intrapreneurship, open innovation, coworking and ecosystem strategy. The supplied image set omitted slides 9 through 25, so its detailed arguments and supporting evidence could not be assessed.

Key findings

• The deck described innovation as moving from closed internal processes toward patent trading, university partnerships, science parks and clusters.
• It argued that innovation had shifted outward toward Tier 1 suppliers and cited Foxconn’s relationships with Amazon, Nintendo and Apple.
• It connected open innovation with platform approaches, intrapreneurship, coworking and ecosystem strategy.

Presented at Coworking Europe 2012