This web-site, still in developing stage, is a result of dr Petar Vrgovic’s short research stay to the Fraunhofer IAO research institute, Stuttgart in Summer of 2014. This research project was founded by the DAAD scholarship. you can reach me at vrgovic (at) uns.ac.rs
Monthly Archives
January 2015
Trust – a key factor
When a country lacks: good legislation frame, underdeveloped intelectual property protection and suboptimal business practices, getting trust becomes crucial for good collaboration. Every partner in innovation endeavour must have a good credibility, otherwise nobody will want to collaborate with him. Trust is a bridge that connects the gap made by lack of legislation and protection. […]
Intermediaries
The problem of SMEs lacking resources, infrastructure, legislative framework and trust in developing countries is, in most cases, tackled by organizing some sort of protective innovation hub. This hub is usually sponsored and run by some sort of intermediary body or agent, whether it be a government body or an independent one. This intermediary needs […]
Main obstacles to OI
Innovation and especially Open Innovation face additional obstacles when it comes to developing countries. First, SMEs in developing countries have very limited resources for research & development activities. Second, SMEs in developing countries usually have no knowledge or resources to establish and maintain network that is neccessary for open innovation. Trhird, developing countries often have […]
The direction of innovation: to give or to take?
The question of direction in open innovation is quite simple: if SME has something that other companies could also use in their own work, outbound O.I. is to be used; if SME wants to change itself with solutions that others posess, inbound O.I. is to be used.
Partners in innovation: Companies, Suppliers, Customers
If a SME is to innovate openly, it needs external partner or partners to collaborate with. That partners should possess complementary knowledge, in order to help the SME. In other words, SME should choose partners that have relevant knowledge and creative potential that could be used for innovation. Other companies may be interesting partners since […]
Who can innovate openly?
As with other business models, Open Innovation isn’t for everybody. SMEs need to be aware of inputs they need to invest in this type of innovation.
What it takes?
The conditions that need to be met for open innovation to work are multiple and dependent on type of activity that SME is after for. Nevertheless, a few elements are necessary. External partner. The SME needs somebody from outside to work together with. External partners may be: business partners both vertical and horizontal (suppliers, distributors, […]
Literature – more resources
If you are interested in scientific articles and books, here are a few of them. Three authors Wim Vanhaverbeke, Ine Vermeersch and Stijn De Zutte cover Flanders region with useful advices for the SMEs. http://www.flandersdc.be/en/study/open-innovation-smes-how-can-small-companies-and-start-ups-benefit-open-innovation-strategies
Benefits of Open Innovation
Since small and medium enterprises usually have limited resources, they often have problems to innovate on their own. Open Innovation helps SMEs to be better in what they do, allowing them to use external partners to grow together. An idea or a new technology is, therefore, acquired faster and cheaper than if the SME had […]