Investigator:

Fernando Morera

Abstract:

Open Innovation (“OI”), a term coined by Henry Chesbrough from the University of California, Berkeley, is based on the fundamental idea that useful knowledge is widespread throughout society. Thus, organizations need to collaborate within knowledge ecosystems to be effective and maximize value. During the pandemic, the number of OI initiatives has dramatically increased. Organizations, across sectors and geographies, are extensively collaborating to develop solutions to this humanitarian crisis, while building resilience for the future. Extensive business-to-business sharing has emerged as a megatrend, signaling that OI will continue to be on the rise after the crisis. Proper governance is essential to increase certainty, reduce risk, and improve decision making in these initiatives. This is particularly relevant for the Transatlantic Marketplace, where OI programs have not lived up to their full potential due to governance challenges.

In general, OI governance issues can be classified under three categories. First, issues related to the parties engaging in OI, which may include, inter alia, those related to the selection and incorporation of a suitable legal vehicle; the definition of roles, responsibilities and contributions of the participating entities; the process by which decisions are made; and risk management protocols. Second, governance issues related to technology solutions developed through OI, which can be technology-specific or technology-agnostic. Third, governance issues related to business models around OI, which may include those related to intellectual property strategies, as well as other suitable ways to capture and protect value derived from OI. By focusing on discrete OI initiatives, this research aims to identify typical governance challenges of relevance for the Transatlantic Marketplace, under the three categories mentioned before. Over time, this research aims to distill best practices to build initiative-agnostic OI governance frameworks, while contributing to policy making in the area of Transatlantic innovation.