Harvesting External Innovation

A fundamental change in the way organizations approach innovation has been taking place in recent times and involves them cooperating and collaborating with external parties in the area of innovation and in the research and development of products and services, thereby bringing them into the very core of the business. This has been driven by the simple realisation that not all the smart people work for you.This book begins by examining the broad subject of innovation, stressing the need to understand its forms and phases, ways and means to encourage innovation, as well as exploring its importance to business. It then addresses the growing phenomenon of external innovation, where companies are cooperating and collaborating with a variety of external parties, all driven by a passion for innovation. This includes a detailed study of the external innovator community. The role of intellectual property is then examined and more specifically, the role which patents play in promoting and protecting innovation is examined in more detail. A number of different approaches which can be taken to engage with the external innovator community are then studied, together with real life case studies. The book then moves on to discuss in depth how best to handle intellectual property matters, how to actually work with these external inventors and how to handle their inventions, whilst sharing insight gathered from experts, as well as a suggested process and check list for handling such cases. This is followed by a number of chapters focused on innovating in cooperation and collaboration with specific external parties such as suppliers and vendors, universities, interoperability standards bodies, plus various other communities as well as Joe Public. The book explores a number of key issues, namely the critical importance of innovation to business and the role that intellectual property and patents play in promoting and protecting such innovation, plus the growing phenomenon of external innovation.