Many engaged in open innovation discussions
”What are the criteria for successsful open innovation?” The question was eagerly discussed by key note speakers as well as a large number of ESOF delegates, when NordForsk brought together academics and business people at a seminar in the science-2-business programme.
The discussions were facilitated by BBC science journalist Quentin
Cooper, asking what open innovation actually means.
The speakers, giving examples of successful open innovation projects,
included Rick Wielens of Nine Sigma Europe, who pointed out that more
and more of total research and development takes place in smaller
companies.
Cynthia McIntyre of the Council of Competitiveness, a non-governmental
membership organization based in Washington DC, cited examples of
successful public private partnerships using open innovation resulting
from the council’s high performance computing initiative.
Michael E. Goodsite (Aarhus University) and Björn-Ola Linnér
(University of Oxford and Linköping University) explained how NordForsk
has brought together researchers and the insurance industry in a Nordic
Centre of Excellence project, NORDSTAR, looking into how the future
challenges of climate change can be handled.
Inspired by the introductions and Quentin Cooper’s enthusiasm, a large number of the attending delegates took part in the round table discussions, freely debating the success criteria for open innovation.
(Text. Dag Inge Danielsen Photo: Terje Heiestad)
