One of the biggest challenges in an Open Innovation environment is the management of intellectual property. Indeed, IP management is a real inhibitor to companies implementing OI – the IP challenges seem somewhat overwhelming. Indeed, I will shortly be teaching IP Management with a specific innovation focus to students at the University of Sydney.
A recently published article address some if these issues. It says that the key is:
- to understand the benefits of embracing these models of IP development;
- to have executives and board members agree on and commit to a clear business plan with respect to same; and
- to have the right people in place to execute the plan.
Different models of collaborative IP development are
used today, including:
- participation in R&D consortia;
- collaboration between different companies for a
- variety of strategic reasons;
- collaboration with universities and other public
- research institutions; and
- the ‘open science’ model, where IP rights become
- superfluous as access is generalised and data is
- shared with little or no limitations.
The Strategy Group 