Challenges of open innovation

The economic history of the last few centuries has shown that the economy progressed in great cycles, and that most major inventions were born during periods of economic depression, because solutions had to be found to get out of the crisis.

Now, at the start of the 21st century, the effects of trade globalization are ushering in a new era of economic depression, which once again calls for innovation in response to new challenges, particularly that of sustainable development.

The differentiating feature of this new era of depression, compared with previous periods, lies in the fact that major innovations are less the fruit of a single player than of collaboration between companies and R & D organizations. For example, the technologies available have never been so numerous, and technological innovation is most often the result of a hybridization of these technologies of multiple origins, which leads organizations mastering these technologies to collaborate. Open innovation, i.e. the acceptance of ideas from elsewhere and the mobilization of resources from outside a company to drive an innovation project, is a lever of prime importance in such a context.

Open innovation often goes further than a partnership between a few players to carry out an innovation project. In the case of a disruptive innovation, stakeholders such as prescribers, communities of interest, local authorities and the State, which regulates, are involved to ensure that the disruption is acceptable. This is often the case these days with innovations in the field of energy (new sources, electric cars...) or clean technologies (CO ₂ reduction, waste treatment...).

Often framed by a strategic desire for total control over the company's destiny, most business leaders show a certain reluctance to this opening-up, which calls into question the notions of ownership of results and business model. Poorly prepared, such collaboration can prove disastrous for a company. Properly managed, on the other hand, it can become a springboard that will enable the company to take a major step forward in its development.

Open innovation is still a minority form of innovation today, even though the stakes involved are crucial for both small and large companies. It's about identifying and forging partnerships and exchanges with the players most conducive to innovations that the company would not have been able to achieve and gain acceptance for on its own.