Brief points to accompany chairing a session on Open Innovation and Intellectual Property at the PATINNOVA conference in Prague, April 2009

1. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
D. Evolution of the IP system
D2: IP rights and open innovation
Chair: Ian Miles
Manchester Institute of Innovation Research
MBS

2. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
Beneath the surface
Our attention tends to be fixated
on the things that are easy to
see – in the case of IP, that is
especially patents. Which
mean different things to different
parties.
But we know there are many
other forms of IP protection,
including
other formal instruments,
contracts of various kinds, and
informal mechanisms.
IP strategy typically involves
mixtures of these.

3. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
When Icebergs Collide…

4. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
Open Innovation
Open Source
User-Generated Innovation
Crowdsourcing
Outsourcing
Collaborative R&D
Distributed Innovation
Processes
Innovation Systems and
Networks…

5. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
What’s New?
Innovation “beyond the boundaries of the firm”
has been around for a very long time – Europe
is familiar with innovation networks; innovation
supporting services in R&D, design,
consultancy, integration, and much more;
collaborative projects in research, standards-
setting, market development, and much more….
These are almost certainly becoming more
important
And there are two qualitatively different features
of Open Innovation today

6. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
NEW FEATURES - 1
Information Technology and
Cyberculture
• FLOSS, Open Source, as a model for
software development
• Web 2.0 social networking for content,
creative, and other novelty
• New IT-based tools to support collaborative
working, crowdsourcing, etc.
• These can be important beyond the IT and
software sectors – eg Lego

7. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
NEW FEATURES - 2
Changing Management Paradigms in the
Knowledge Economy
• Focus on Core Competences  Outsourcing
(and Offshoring) of Basic and Sophisticated
Functions for Efficiency and Effectiveness
• Increasingly Complex and Multifaceted
Knowledge Requirements  Need to
mobilise social and technical knowledge from
diverse sources
• Cooperation alongside competition 
Serious rethinking about how innovation
should be conducted, and by whom

8. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
Benefits of O.I.
Not just cost-saving and economies of scale;
not even just more flexible and agile…
Access to specialist knowledge, skills, and
other capabilities
Closer to business partners and users
Exposure to alternative ways of organising
innovative effort
Learning more about the innovation system –
including users

9. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
Open Innovation Iceberg
IT & Cyberculture Management Paradigms
A huge range of different OI approaches:
One-off versus embedded strategy
Substantial collaboration versus scanning and polling
Funded research programmes (enforcing OI) versus
autonomous initiatives
Few versus many collaborators
Hub-and-spoke versus (virtual) networks
Innovation specialists (suppliers, firms, Universities,
KIBS) versus users (customer firms, even consumers),
and employees in different divisions

10. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
What, where, and who
With many partners engaged in Open
Innovation, from diverse backgrounds and
knowledge bases
Variations in IP instruments and strategies
Likely to be many diverse experiences – so
need to look for patterns beyond the usual
suspects – or at least, be very cautious about
assuming that looking at the tips of the icebergs
tells us the story of what lies beneath.

11. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
Panorama
Our presenters will be:
• John Rigby, Manchester Business School
• Stuart Smith, 3 Sheep (SME)
• Jako Eleveld, Philips

12. Manchester
Institute of
Innovation
Research
PATINNOVA April 2009
End of presentation