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Normally they are the first step into Open Innovation and involve less investment and risk, but on the
other hand also more modest results. Yet other less common actions, such as in-house incubators and
business accelerators, might have a greater impact not only in terms of effort, but also in terms of results.
One further step is the one related to the creation of Corporate Venture Capital.
Another quite used approach is the issue of Calls for ideas, Challenges and Contests. These initiatives are
aimed at collecting, in a competitive environment, new and innovative ideas focused on specific topics
that the launching company might be willing or considering to start with or implement/develop. Some of
these activities might also become real events, shows and festival, where the competitions involving
aspirant developers outside the company are set into kind of showcases and the challenge or contest
itself becomes an event.

Further possibilities, rather more complex might envisage joint venture: in such agreement two or more
companies undertake to collaborate on a joint project (being it industrial or commercial) and/or agree to
jointly exploit their synergies, know-how or capital. Another way of doing Open Innovation could be the
licensing of own products, thus transferring to another party, by the author or holder of a right, to use the
product or technology, deriving economic benefits from it, such as licensed production. Finally, a very
interesting line of implementation can be platform business model that creates value by facilitating the
exchange between two or more interdependent groups, usually consumers and producers, through the
use of certain platforms that facilitate interaction.

The start-up seems to be the best tool for the development of Open Innovation considering this as de-
compartmentalising the company's innovation process, by opening up some or all of the phases of its
innovation process to other company departments or even other companies (suppliers, customers or
other partners ). The making use of external resources and expertise to foster technological progress are
in fact the main characteristic of the start-up model, which represents the ideal driving force to put the
Open Innovation paradigm into practice.

There are many EU companies interested in collaborating with start-ups as an alternative source for the
development of digital innovation. Open Innovation thus takes the form of different types of collaboration
that can vary in duration and strategic value. Collaborating with one or more start-ups can lead to various
and numerous benefits (both economic and strategic) for each of the parties. Adopting the Open
Innovation paradigm reduces the main risks of producing innovation at home (high costs, waiting times
before going to market) and offers the possibility of access to external technologies and competences.

Once assessed these main features and meaning, it was worth assessing whether – in the participants’
opinion - companies in their own country/region did possess all the resources and skills needed to
translate the Open Innovation model into practice.

According to what were the responses, feedback and impressions gathered during the focus groups if
many large companies have already adopted Open Innovation approaches, with different modalities and
levels of awareness, SMEs are still scarcely aware of the possibilities deriving from the Open Innovation
adoption and the model is still struggling to take off and even if they do start, many initiatives are still
undertaken without real confidence and without a systematic approach. The issue is that innovation
requires tools, ideas and skills and small companies do not always necessarily possess all these resources.

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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