Special Issue: Open R&D and Open Innovation
Special Issue: Open R&D and Open Innovation. Edited by Ellen Enkel, Oliver Gassmann, and Henry Chesbrough. Volume 39 Issue 4, August 2009.
This seems a closed academic journal, but the folllowing sample articles should show the articles are very promising:
* Open R&D and open innovation: exploring the phenomenon. By Ellen Enkel, Oliver Gassmann and Henry Chesbrough
There is currently a broad awareness of open innovation and its relevance to corporate R&D. The implications and trends that underpin open innovation are actively discussed in terms of strategic, organizational, behavioral, knowledge, legal and business perspectives, and its economic implications. This special issue aims to advance the R&D, innovation, and technology management perspective by building on past and present studies in the field and providing future directions. Recent research, including the papers in this special issue, demonstrates an increasing range of situations where the concept is regarded as applicable. Most research to date has followed the outside-in process of open innovation, while the inside-out process remains less explored. A third coupled process of open innovation is also attracting significant research attention. These different processes show why it is necessary to have a full understanding of how and where open innovation can add value in knowledge-intensive processes. There may be a need for a creative interpretation and adaptation of the value propositions, or business models, in each situation. In other words, there are important implications for new and emerging methods of R&D management.
* On the Open Design of Tangible Goods. By Christina Raasch, Cornelius Herstatt and Kerstin Balka
Open source software development has received considerable scholarly attention, much of which is based on the presumption that the ‘open source model’ holds some lessons of broader applicability. Nonetheless, our knowledge of its deployment outside the software industry is very limited. This paper focuses on the open source development of tangible objects, the so-called open design. We propose a generalised definition of open source development. Drawing on 27 exploratory interviews and six comparative case studies selected from a pool of more than 75 projects, we analyse the workings of open design. The analysis reveals that open design is already being implemented in a substantial variety of projects with different organisational and institutional structures.
* Is open source software living up to its promises? Insights for open innovation management from two open source software-inspired projects. By Gordon Müller-Seitz and Guido Reger
At present, several virtual initiatives claim to be acting according to the open source software (OSS) arena, which is often deemed a role model for open innovation. Against this background, this research focuses on a comparative case study of two non-profit project networks that attempt to operate in line with the OSS phenomenon: Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, and the development of an automobile, Open Source car. We show that many parallels to the OSS arena can be drawn in both cases. However, this analysis must be performed cautiously, as several factors limit the applicability of OSS principles to non-software-related arenas. We conclude with a discussion of implications for open innovation research and managerial practice.