Participation in Open Innovation Project - Assignment Example

Participation in Open Innovation Project May 28, Table of Contents Introduction 7 Introduction 7 1. Definition and evolution of open innovation 7 1.2. Stages in open innovation projects 9 1.3. Types of open innovation 11 2. Participation in openIDEO 11 2. Participation in openIDEO 11 2.1. Details of my participation 13 3. Conclusions 17 3. Conclusions 17 References 19 References 19 Appendix 23 Appendix 23 List of Figures A.1. Home page of the project (OpenIDEO, 2014) 23 A.2. List of my activities in the forum 25 A.3. Screen shot of my first post on the forum 27 A.4. Another post in the forum 27 A.5. First step in the idea submission process 27 A.6. Second step in completing the form 29 A.7. Last step in completing the form 31 A.8. The completed form and my idea 33 1. Introduction Until recently, innovation practices fell into the realm of commercial organization such as Toyota, Sony, Nike, Microsoft or Google and these firms encouraged their employees to rethink problems and come up with different solutions, which were innovative and presented a fresh approach to problem solving (Penin, et al, 2011). The results are evident in the development of innovative products such as iPhone, iPad and many others that were developed by using innovation practices. Some amount of internal collaboration in innovative organizations is evident when staffs from different departments form cross-functional teams (Chesbrough, et al, 2008). Consequently, innovation was a prerogative of commercial organizations that used their employee talent to bring out new products and ideas that they could market for profit (Pearce, 2012). In this document, a review of the literature on open innovation is presented followed by experience of the author of this paper, who participated in a project at openIDEO, an open innovation platform. 1.1. Definition and evolution of open innovation The term Open Innovation was first introduced by Chesbrough who indicated that open innovation "is a paradigm shift in approach of organizations that need to consider external and internal ideas along with external and internal path to develop a collaborative approach and advance knowledge in the field by introducing practical and innovative approaches to problem solving" (Chesbrough, 2003, p. 17). Open innovation creates a mutually beneficial relationship since both the firm that sponsors open innovation projects and individuals or smaller firms that participate, gain through generation of designs, and present ideas that meet the requirements (Chesbrough, and Eichenholz, 2013). Open innovation is different from outsourcing where existing products are given out on contractual manufacturing and vendors must produce the components as per specifications (Terwiesch, 2008). In open innovation forum, the administrator presents a problem and participants must offer their answers. A diversity of opinions is needed and the firm may examine several alternatives from among the solutions offered, pick up an idea that appears most suitable, and place the selected idea for refinement (Levine and Prietula, 2013). While open innovation is a good concept, certain problems are apparent. Some of the main problems are legal issues and the lack of privacy and confidentiality in the forum. Another problem is that requirements for the project and details of the selected design are available for even rival firms. Firms that work with patented and highly confidential information would forego their competitive advantage to rival firms if details of their products or processes were published in public fora (Vemuri and Bertone, 2004). 1.2. Stages in open innovation projects Several open innovation websites or platforms are available. These bring together the sponsors or the parties that need the innovation, and individuals who wish to participate. While each platform has its own methodology, the general method is to begin by announcing the project in an open forum (Schutte and Stephan, 2010). The sponsor puts forth a brief in a forum and gives details and requirements of the project, states the problem and indicates the desired outcome. A cutoff date is specified and all entries received before this date, are reviewed. Members of the forum then view the problem, create an outline of the solutions and upload them on the website. The solution is usually available for all members and they can offer comments on a solution or provide improvements on the suggested solution, but they need to acknowledge the source for the ideas (West and Gallagher, 2006). 1.3. Types of open innovation Three types of open innovation have emerged and these are crowd-sourced competition, community based competition and open sourced co-innovation. In crowd-sourced competition, ideas are invited and the individual whose idea is selected is acknowledged. In community-based competition, firms such as Microsoft, Intel, develop their own dedicated online communities and competitors interact. In open source co-innovation, an idea is created for other members by members of a forum. The process of creation and service is open and the ideas are available for further development and use by all members. Some examples are Wikipedia and Linux (Chesbrough, 2003). 2. Participation in openIDEO I participated in a project at openIDEO, which is an open innovation platform that facilitates organizations and individuals to interact in a community (OpenIDEO, 2014). The platform features a number of social welfare projects, which are supported by various welfare organizations. I registered at this site since it allowed me to interact in a project that was aimed at helping the less privileged members of the society. After registering, it took me some time to study the website, and I finally decided to participate in a project called "How might we inspire and engage young people to support older adults through mentorship?" Please refer to Appendix A1, which gives a screen shot of the webpage where the project is listed. 2.1. Details of my participation After I joined the forum and the project, I visited a number of other fora to see the manner in which members conduct themselves. It became apparent that while we were allowed to post in the fora or comment on the ideas submitted by other members, we had to follow certain rules and etiquettes. Participation was encouraged, and this is line with the observations made by Chesbrough (2003). Please refer to Appendix A2, which gives a partial list of my activities in the forum. After reviewing the brief given for the project, I realized that this was a very pertinent project that would appeal to communities in many countries. The basic question asked was the manner in which younger people of 18-22 years and older people above 70, could interact and help each other. I had reviewed posts and content in other fora and realized that most of the comments called for participation and training in arts, painting and other such creative workshops. While I do not have any objections to such activities, I realized that a tremendous benefit could be obtained from older people, if younger people cared to work for their living in professions of their choice. The professions I had in mind are basic skills related to plumbing, carpentry, electrical fitting, electronics repair and other such vocations. However, these professions are not artistic and I feared that my suggestions might bring in harsh and derisive comments. I found some solace in the words of Chesbrough (et al, 2008) who suggest that innovative ideas do not have to be esoteric to be accepted, and while out of the box thinking is encouraged, one must provide for due practical limitations about their implementation. In this context, I made my first post in the forum. Please refer to Appendix A3, which illustrates the comment. I thought over the project and decided to document the details and specify the manner in which the project and my suggestions could be detailed. Several authors namely Penin (et al, 2011) and Terwiesch and Xu (2008) have indicated the advantages of using a structured approach while handling such open innovation projects. There is a need for a rationale and logical approach. Considering these points, I made a number of posts to sound out the idea, and a screen shot of a recent post is given in Appendix A4. The administrators and other members were impatient, or so I think, to see my idea and I started putting down my ideas and drafted the plan. A set of screen and forms helped me to document my idea. It took many edits before I was ready to submit the plan. Please refer to the Appendix A5, which illustrates the first step in completing the submission process. Given in Appendix A6 is the second step where I entered some more details in the idea submission form. I gave a heading and wrote the summary of my idea. The final step was to give more details about the project. In this section, I spelt out the idea in detail, and explained the whole concept. I still need to thoroughly vet my plan and clearly document it. Figure in Appendix A7 gives a screen shot of the last step. The completed form with all the details is given in Appendix A8. Overall, this participation was a good experience; since it helped me to understand how to conceptualize an idea, and present it in an open innovation forum. I feel that such open innovation platforms will become more popular in the future, especially among students who can gain from the experience of participation and learn new skills. 3. Conclusions The paper discussed the concept of open innovation, and the manner in which individuals could participate in various projects through open innovation platforms. The concept is gaining popularity as seen in the large number of platforms that have come up, and that see increasing levels of participation. As a part of my project work, I participated in a project at openIDEO, a platform for community and social welfare projects. I registered and offered a solution for the project and I am ready to take it further if the idea is accepted. References Chesbrough, H. W., 2003. Open Innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Boston: Harvard Business School Press Chesbrough, H.; Vanhaverbeke, W. and West, J., 2008. Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm. Oxford: Oxford University Chesbrough, H. and Eichenholz, J., 2013. Open Innovation in Photonics. SPIE Professional, 8, pp. 24–25 Lakhani, K. R. and Panetta, J. A., 2007. The Principles of Distributed Innovation. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 2 (3), pp. 89-97 Levine, S. S. and Prietula, M. J., 2013. Open Collaboration for Innovation: Principles and Performance. Available through: Publication Online at Informs website [Accessed 26 Amy 2014] OpenIDEO, 2014. How might we inspire and engage young people to support older adults through mentorship? Available through: openIDEO website < https://openideo.com/challenge/youth-mentor/brief.html> [Accessed 25 May 2014] Pearce, J. M., 2012. The case for open source appropriate technology. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 14(3), pp. 425–431 Penin, J., Hussler, C. and Burger-Helmchen, T., 2011. New shapes and new stakes: a portrait of open innovation as a promising phenomenon. Journal of Innovation Economics (7): 11–29 Schutte, C. and Marais, S., 2010. The Development of Open Innovation Models to Assist the Innovation Process. University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Terwiesch, C., Y. Xu. 2008. Innovation Contests, Open Innovation, and Multiagent Problem Solving Manag. Science, 54(9), pp. 1529-1543 Vemuri, V. K. and Bertone, V., 2004. Will the Open Source Movement Survive a Litigious Society? Electronic Markets, 14(2), pp. 114-117 West, J. and Gallagher, S., 2006. Challenges of open innovation: The paradox of firm investment in open-source software. R and D Management, 36(3), pp. 319-325 Appendix A.1. Home page of the project (OpenIDEO, 2014) A.2. List of my activities in the forum A.3. Screen shot of my first post on the forum A.4. Another post in the forum A.5. First step in the idea submission process A.6. Second step in completing the form A.7. Last step in completing the form A.8. The completed form and my idea Read More