Recently, Stefan Lindegaard blogged about "why open innovation is not just a hype". I would like to extend his argumentation a bit further:
Henry Chesbrough created the term open innovation in 2003. Now we have 2009, and open innovation is getting even more popular (and more mainstreamed) than ever before. A hype would usually get popularized a lot faster (e.g. compare with Web 2.0-topics like Myspace or Second World).
Especially the economic crisis makes open innovation even stronger. Companies are forced to cut costs and open innovation enables companies to save expenses in R&D. If we take a look at marketing practices, we see how good buzz marketing (also viral marketing and guerilla marketing) is performing, compared to classic advertising.
Potential threat of hype
Stefan describes the strong growth of LinkedIn profiles with the term open innovation. I would say, this is werethere is a potential threat of an open innovation hype. Because most people understand open innovation just as a way for customer integration or customer co-design, for instance through crowdsourcing. This is were insufficient knowledge is duplicated by a lot of people and consequently open innovation could be hyped - but in a wrong direction.
Consequently, I personally think that two things are important for preventing open innovation from getting hyped.
First, it is necessary to harmonize the definition of open innovation between academic researchers and practitioneers. On the one hand academic researcher (e.g. Chesbrough, Lakhani) focus mainly on the topic of Intellectual Property Right. On the other hand, practioneers are focussing mainly on the topics of Customer Co-Creation, Crowdsourcing and Mass Customization.
Secondly, despite all the good & positive from open innovation, open innovation still has certaint potential negative consequences. Open innovation may not suit every company and every business model. When implementing open innovation, companies have to be very careful because of potential strategic threats. This fact is completely forgotten right now.
Finally, I suggest to see open innovation with all its advantages and disadvantages.
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