Many companies see the term open innovation as a new way of working, for others this term means

an evolution or rebranding of their existing way of doing things. For those companies who are used
to the ‘old’ innovation, a more open approach can be a liberating experience. Open innovation
provides a more flexibility for a company strategist and more of a ‘playing field’ for the product
developer.

In 2003, Chesbrough has defined open innovation as “the use of purposive inflows and outflows of
knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation,
respectively. In another words, open innovation has been defined as a strategy by which companies
allow a flow of knowledge across their boundaries as they are trying to find a ways how to enhance
their innovation capabilities.

Every corporation around the globe takes very different forms of open innovation. We need to take
into account differences in national culture and the way in which innovation is carried out. For
example career paths vary significantly between countries and this can have an impact on the
openness of employees. Companies often underestimate these issues and it can result in
misunderstanding and the wrong expectations being created in open innovation relationships. Also
there is a strong tendency to create partnerships with companies that have the same national
identity, even if they are not on the top of the list. This attitude can have an impact on their ability to
access innovation outside their own national boundaries. With this issue of different nationality
comes an issue of knowledge transfer that can become very complex due to the geographical
distance.

Organizations should be aware of the different enablers and obstacles that come with
implementation of open innovation. Companies agree that cultural change is a major issue in the
implementing of open innovation. This means that adopting open innovation often means doing
things differently and therefore for almost all the companies the shift towards an open approach to
innovation requires the direct involvement of top management. Also open innovation procedures,
motivation and skills can be challenging when adopting new open approach to innovation.