The human side of Open Innovation with Henry Chesbrough

According to Henry Chesbrough, a lot of the challenges relate to
the people inside the organization.

Henry Chesbrough coined the term Open Innovation in 2003. What
has changed since then?


In 2003 the focus was primarily on one organization and the
innovation happening within the boundaries of a company. In the
last 20 years, things have moved in a couple of ways:

1. Inside the organization: We have now a much richer sense of
opportunities and challenges that OI can bring. A lot of the
challenges of OI relate to the people.

2. Outside the organization: Nowadays, it is about bringing
together many organizations. Collectively, we need to find out
how to collaborate and orchestrate better solutions by building
ecosystems!


Open Innovation appears to get confused with "revealing all
knowledge and IP". These misconceptions are rooted in fears. Any
advice on how to reduce these fears?


You don't share everything!


There is a learning curve: If you gain more
experience, it becomes more natural and easier to train and
manage the process.


Working with larger companies: Create a public
shareable version of your service so that people can say see the
value. You don't share the specifics of how you do things, or
what specific compounds you use.


How do we motivate and not demoralize the people?


Reframe the purpose of the organization: For
example, instead of being the people who are solving the hardest
problems, NASA now sees itself as the seeker of the answers to
these hard problems (inside or outside the organization). This
reframing helped NASA to align the goals of their organizations
with the mechanism of OI.


Reconsideration of reward systems: Organizations
need to establish a reward system that appreciates internal
achievements but at the same time considers recognition for
externally sourced know-how.


What can managers do to establish an OI mindset?

1. Achieve an early win: To create a small
project that does not take a lot of money and time but achieves
something positive that creates a positive flywheel effect.

2. Acknowledge all contributors: If you achieve
this small win you should not only celebrate this win but all the
people who have contributed to it - especially those outside the
innovation team.

3. Align KPIs and reward systems: They have to
be adjusted to stimulate the behavior we really want so that we
can broaden this success to the entire organization.


Henry summarized all his experiences in books written especially
for managers:


How to move from technology development to the business
model side: Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open business models:
How to thrive in the new innovation landscape. Harvard Business
Press.


How to move from the world of products to the world of
services:
Chesbrough, H. (2011). Open services innovation: Rethinking your
business to grow and compete in a new era. John Wiley &
Sons.


How to get positive business results from open
innovation:
Chesbrough, H. (2019). Open innovation results: Going beyond the
hype and getting down to business. Oxford University Press.