CPI Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which platform is a classic example of a crowdsourcing marketplace where companies post innovation challenges with cash prizes?
- InnoCentive (Correct answer)
- Slack
- Trello
Correct answer: InnoCentive
InnoCentive (now Wazoku) is a pioneering platform where organizations post challenges and a global solver community competes for prizes.
Question 2: In open innovation, what does 'inbound open innovation' primarily involve?
- Selling unused patents to external parties
- Licensing internal IP to external firms
- Acquiring external knowledge to enhance internal R&D (Correct answer)
- Spinning off internal ventures into separate companies
Correct 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.
Question 3: A company runs a crowdsourcing campaign and receives 10,000 ideas but struggles to evaluate them efficiently. This is known as:
- Ideation fatigue
- Contribution overload (Correct answer)
- The submission paradox
- The integration problem
Correct answer: Contribution overload
Contribution overload occurs when the volume of crowdsourced submissions exceeds an organization's capacity to effectively review and integrate them.
Question 4: 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?
- Inbound open innovation
- Coupled open innovation
- Outbound open innovation (Correct answer)
- Absorptive capacity
Correct answer: Outbound open innovation
Outbound open innovation involves deliberately sharing or commercializing internal knowledge, IP, and technologies with external entities.
Question 5: What is the primary risk associated with relying heavily on external contributors in open innovation?
- Reduced R&D costs
- Loss of proprietary knowledge or IP leakage (Correct answer)
- Faster time to market
- Increased employee creativity
Correct 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.
Question 6: Which open innovation model involves a company collaborating simultaneously with both suppliers and customers in a joint innovation process?
- Inbound open innovation
- Outbound open innovation
- Coupled open innovation (Correct answer)
- Technology scouting
Correct answer: Coupled open innovation
Coupled open innovation combines inbound and outbound flows, typically through alliances, joint ventures, or consortia with external partners.
Question 7: A firm's ability to recognize, assimilate, and apply externally sourced knowledge to commercial ends is termed:
- Innovation capacity
- Dynamic capability
- Absorptive capacity (Correct answer)
- Disruptive potential
Correct answer: Absorptive capacity
Absorptive capacity, coined by Cohen and Levinthal, describes a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and exploit external knowledge for innovation.
CPI Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing 2
Which platform is a classic example of a crowdsourcing marketplace where companies post innovation challenges with cash prizes?