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make use of external ideas, as well as internal ones, and access markets with internal and external routes
if they want to advance their technological competencies.

In other words, companies should rely on an innovation model that takes into account not only internal
ideas and resources, but also tools and expertise from outside, in particular from start-ups, universities,
research institutes, consultants and non-competing companies. Similarly, companies must no longer only
think in terms of internal exploitation of ideas, but must also consider routes to market outside their own
borders or alternatives to their own business model. It is definitely a widely shared fact that forms of open
innovations, affecting the business model or the organization of the company, are today becoming
increasingly important, even occasionally dominant in certain sectors. This seems to be the consequence
of at least three transformations:

- Digitization: any idea, any concept takes a digital form, which makes it more flexible
and customizable, it also facilitates dematerialization, but even more the association
between products and services, and contributes to the acceleration of cycles. Ultimately
data is becoming a key asset of the economy;
- Interconnection: ideas circulate faster all over the globe, which stimulates both
collaboration and copying. The difference between professionals and amateurs is
blurring. Value chains are constantly being restructured, often around large “platforms”;

- Externalities: the rise of energy and climate issues, awareness of the limits of “classic”
political action and the emphasis growing focus on the “social and environmental
responsibility” of companies, lead to take into account the effects of innovations on
employment, collective well-being or the environment, or even to make them the
central objects of “social innovation”.

This said, most of attendees agreed that to be competitive, a company today can no longer do without
innovation. Digital permeates every business sector and activity, and the contrast is no longer only with
competitors, but also with non-competing companies and realities where research is a key element for
progress. Smart organisations also started to implement the principles of Open Innovation to cope with
this new reality. Specifically, many companies have increasingly started to collaborate with external
organizations and professionals such as universities, research centres, start-ups, competitor companies or
more traditional players such as ICT vendors and consulting companies in pursuing the main goal of
implementing new technologies and business opportunities, so as to reduce the risks and costs associated
with innovation and share the benefits.

According to the results of focus groups those businesses and SMEs that are recognising the value of Open
Innovation use many tools to this paradigm.

The main approach is mostly based on the adoption of external solicitations and idea in order to do
innovation within the company. One of the most commonly diffused actions are collaborations with
universities and established partners. The collaborations with research centres and universities is fairly
diffused and provides possible access to inventions and patents, allows several kind of experimentation of
new technologies as well as application of new methodologies.

OPEN4U: intrOducing Practices in opEn innovatioN 4U - project number 2022-1-IT01-KA220-VET-000085295
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the
European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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