Innovation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Innovation - Assignment Example Consequently, innovation was a prerogative of commercial organizations that used their employee talent to bring out new products and ideas that they could market for profit (Pearce, 2012). In this document, a review of the literature on open innovation is presented followed by experience of the author of this paper, who participated in a project at openIDEO, an open innovation platform. The term Open Innovation was first introduced by Chesbrough who indicated that open innovation "is a paradigm shift in approach of organizations that need to consider external and internal ideas along with external and internal path to develop a collaborative approach and advance knowledge in the field by introducing practical and innovative approaches to problem solving" (Chesbrough, 2003, p. 17). Open innovation creates a mutually beneficial relationship since both the firm that sponsors open innovation projects and individuals or smaller firms that participate, gain through generation of designs, and present ideas that meet the requirements (Chesbrough, and Eichenholz, 2013). Open innovation is different from outsourcing where existing products are given out on contractual manufacturing and vendors must produce the components as per specifications (Terwiesch, 2008). In open innovation forum, the administrator presents a problem and participants must offer their answers. A diversi ty of opinions is needed and the firm may examine several alternatives from among the solutions offered, pick up an idea that appears most suitable, and place the selected idea for refinement (Levine and Prietula, 2013). While open innovation is a good concept, certain problems are apparent. Some of the main problems are legal issues and the lack of privacy and confidentiality in the forum. Another problem is that requirements for the project and details of the selected design are available for even rival firms.