Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing Flashcards

Which platform is a classic example of a crowdsourcing marketplace where companies post innovation challenges with cash prizes?

Answer: InnoCentive

InnoCentive (now Wazoku) is a pioneering platform where organizations post challenges and a global solver community competes for prizes.

In open innovation, what does 'inbound open innovation' primarily involve?

Answer: Acquiring external knowledge to enhance internal R&D

Inbound open innovation refers to the practice of leveraging external sources—such as partners, startups, or the public—to bring knowledge and ideas into the firm's innovation process.

A company runs a crowdsourcing campaign and receives 10,000 ideas but struggles to evaluate them efficiently. This is known as:

Answer: Contribution overload

Contribution overload occurs when the volume of crowdsourced submissions exceeds an organization's capacity to effectively review and integrate them.

Which concept describes the strategy of making a company's internal R&D results available to outside parties, including competitors, to create new revenue streams?

Answer: Outbound open innovation

Outbound open innovation involves deliberately sharing or commercializing internal knowledge, IP, and technologies with external entities.

What is the primary risk associated with relying heavily on external contributors in open innovation?

Answer: Loss of proprietary knowledge or IP leakage

Heavy reliance on external contributors increases the risk that sensitive proprietary knowledge or intellectual property may be inadvertently disclosed or appropriated.

Which open innovation model involves a company collaborating simultaneously with both suppliers and customers in a joint innovation process?

Answer: Coupled open innovation

Coupled open innovation combines inbound and outbound flows, typically through alliances, joint ventures, or consortia with external partners.

A firm's ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply externally sourced knowledge to commercial ends is termed:

Answer: Absorptive capacity

Absorptive capacity, coined by Cohen and Levinthal, describes a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and exploit external knowledge for innovation.