Open Innovation in Nanotechnology

One of the most significant new evolving development concepts in industry is Open-Innovation. Companies facing an issue pose a question for the whole wide world like a challenge. It is a leap in corporate culture where it is now realized that the best way to solve a problem is by sharing it.


The firms do not risk too much but can benefit a lot since:
(a) If someone has a solution then it would be virtually impossible for an individual or a small player to overtake the giant corporation and thus would not pose a threat,
(b) Moreover no one would give the 'solution finder' a better quick reward than the solution seeker themselves.


It is here that most academic research /inventors/free lancers etc. and industry are crossing paths. Open innovation inventor Henry Chesbrough's blog.


Nanotechnology can benefit significantly from open innovation-
Nanotechnology can be divided into bottom-up or top-down approaches. The top-down approach is where existing products are miniaturized. This is often reflected in the rapidly evolving electronic market which are catered-to by foundries in Taiwan and S.Korea. These foundries make small transistors for electronic chips. 
But from the open-innovation pov, bottom-up approach is where most of todays research is focussed since it has shown enormous potential to improve every sphere of life - medicine, textiles, cosmetics, chemicals etc. even steel is being made stronger (http://www.outokumpu.com/).
One of the key challenges is the multidisciplinary nature of nanotechnology and nano-related sciences (Shea 2005; Palmberg and Nikulainen 2006 link). Nanotechnology and nanosciences draw upon a variety of different disciplines. It is related to both organic and inorganic disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, biology and biosciences. Thus, for large incumbents to benefit from the technological and scientific advances in nanotechnology it might be best to share the problems or collaborate with research organizations. Thus by spreading the awareness of the problem among relevant knowledge groups the companies stand the best chance to find a solution and gain an edge over their competitor.


Here is a sample list of selected open innovation initiatives relevant to the nano-sphere and otherwise


1. Identification of new materials that mimic human skin (link)
2. Solutions to the response to the 'OIL SPILL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO' (link)
3. Submit your innovation to P&G (link)
4. Nokia's collaborative open innovation world map (link)