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Where IPR protection fails Open Innovation
Current IPR protection is incapable of drawing a distinction between ill-defined early-stage ideas on the one hand, and fully-articulated knowledge- and solution-based business propositions on the other. A new intellectual property right that properly protects pre-patent concepts and propositions created by industrial designers and other professional originators would stimulate open innovation on a truly massive scale, says Maxine J Horn, CEO at British Design Innovation.
Open Innovation is widely considered to be the ideal business growth model going forward. Unfortunately, many people also appear to believe that it denotes a completely open free-for-all, where ideas can be purloined at will. For that reason, professional originators - those industrial designers, inventors, scientists, technologists, design engineers and others whose living depends upon creating new-to-market products, processes and propositions – have always felt threatened by open innovation's poorly-regulated remuneration structure. Until now.
It is already accepted that knowledge transfer has a tradable value: universities consistently trade and transfer knowledge commercially with industry - an activity encouraged, promoted and funded by the government. In some regards knowledge-based professional originators are little different from universities, apart from the fact that they have the know-how to take the knowledge further and translate it into market applications in the form of user-led products, services and propositions. To commercialise it to its maximum, in other words.)
But amid rising confusion about what the differences between 'open innovation' and 'open source' actually are, misconceptions abound - with major implications for the intellectual property (IP) sector, innovation and industry if things are not ironed out.
Professional originators utilise their know-how and expertise to progress unrefined ideas to a state of applied knowledge, yet current IP protection is incapable of drawing a distinction between ill-defined early-stage ideas on the one hand, and fully-rationalised knowledge - and solution-based business propositions on the other. A new intellectual property right (IPR) that protects pre-patent concepts created by professional originators would stimulate open innovation on a truly massive scale, so it is a hotly-debated topic.
Put simply, open innovation is where industry seeks external sources of innovation. In a world of widely-distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (e.g. patents) from other companies and individuals. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs etc.
In general, open innovation can be broken down into five distinct areas: open source, consumenr - or user-led crowdsourcing, expert knowledge-led crowdsourcing, proposition sourcing (involving entrepreneurs), and concept sourcing (involving professional originators). All are outlined in more detail below.
1. Open Source
New and shared knowledge, enabling reputation and status-building. (Image via Incubate-innovation.org)
Open source is a practice most common in software development and digital productions, where enthusiasts (of music, for instance) share knowledge, code and digital files to build reputations or contribute to end products.
Software companies use open source to encourage web developers to build on their platforms in order to make money from upgrades and end-user licenses for support products, and thus have a vested interest in free shareware. In this sense, 'free' does not mean valueless.
Shared ideas can become valuable if those ideas make a contribution to a greater end product that is worth money. In a structured framework focused on a common goal and with profit-share agreements in place, this is considered co-creation. In an unstructured open source environment, enthusiasts or new practitioners are often more interested in enabling and reputation-building than making money.
The results of publicly-funded university research discoveries are made freely available through journals publication, allowing open source access to all who purchase or download them. However, although universities are strongly encouraged to commercialise results using traditional IPR and knowledge transfer methodologies, small discoveries and new technologies are chasing problems to address but often lack any real market application. So this is a form of open source, though not necessarily an immediately practical one.
IP structure: A Creative Commons license was introduced some years ago to denote materials that are free to use without seeking permission. Open source can build new knowledge; spawn innovation, new products and businesses. It serves a purpose to those who make a personal decision to work in such a way.
2. Consumer- or user-led crowdsourcing
User insights, ideas-based competitions, PR, no defined problem, no safety or quality control. (Image via Onedegree.ca)
User-led crowdsourcing is a modern form of consumer insight research that has replaced the small focus groups used by traditional market research firms. Large corporate brand owners launch competitions, often through PR firms, to source new product ideas and improvements from a consumer or user base; an expert panel sifts the ideas and declares a winner. Although the ideas submitted are of variable quality the PR value can be beneficial. Occasionally a good submission can lead to a commercial payback.
IP structure: In general these types of competitions do not attract professional originators due to the negligible IP terms, where all commercial advantage is often assigned to the brand owner running the competition as a condition of entry. Rewards rarely exceed a small cash prize, free product samples or a little PR.
Download the full article (PDF - 111KB)
Maxine J Horn is founder and CEO of British Design Innovation (BDI). Maxine began her career in design media publishing before taking on new business development roles at board level within strategic design consultancies. She launched British Design Initiative Ltd in 1993 to assist exporting design firms share market knowledge and costs – the first membership organisation to put the commercial design sector on the UKTI export map – and launched the national online Design Directory in 1996. In 2005 Maxine licensed the assets of British Design Initiative to British Design Innovation as a spin-out (the independent not-for-profit trade association is owned and driven by six national board directors supported by 24 regional directors, with further input from over 500 directors of its member companies, each with more than 10 years business and sector experience).
British Design Innovation
9 Pavilion Parade
Brighton, United Kingdom
BN2 1RA
m: + 44 07803 297 150
t: + 44 0 1273 675 317
e:
w: www.britishdesigninnovation.org
Open Innovation is widely considered to be the ideal business growth model going forward. Unfortunately, many people also appear to believe that it denotes a completely open free-for-all, where ideas can be purloined at will. For that reason, professional originators - those industrial designers, inventors, scientists, technologists, design engineers and others whose living depends upon creating new-to-market products, processes and propositions – have always felt threatened by open innovation's poorly-regulated remuneration structure. Until now.
It is already accepted that knowledge transfer has a tradable value: universities consistently trade and transfer knowledge commercially with industry - an activity encouraged, promoted and funded by the government. In some regards knowledge-based professional originators are little different from universities, apart from the fact that they have the know-how to take the knowledge further and translate it into market applications in the form of user-led products, services and propositions. To commercialise it to its maximum, in other words.)
But amid rising confusion about what the differences between 'open innovation' and 'open source' actually are, misconceptions abound - with major implications for the intellectual property (IP) sector, innovation and industry if things are not ironed out.
Professional originators utilise their know-how and expertise to progress unrefined ideas to a state of applied knowledge, yet current IP protection is incapable of drawing a distinction between ill-defined early-stage ideas on the one hand, and fully-rationalised knowledge - and solution-based business propositions on the other. A new intellectual property right (IPR) that protects pre-patent concepts created by professional originators would stimulate open innovation on a truly massive scale, so it is a hotly-debated topic.
Put simply, open innovation is where industry seeks external sources of innovation. In a world of widely-distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (e.g. patents) from other companies and individuals. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs etc.
In general, open innovation can be broken down into five distinct areas: open source, consumenr - or user-led crowdsourcing, expert knowledge-led crowdsourcing, proposition sourcing (involving entrepreneurs), and concept sourcing (involving professional originators). All are outlined in more detail below.
1. Open Source
New and shared knowledge, enabling reputation and status-building. (Image via Incubate-innovation.org)
Open source is a practice most common in software development and digital productions, where enthusiasts (of music, for instance) share knowledge, code and digital files to build reputations or contribute to end products.
Software companies use open source to encourage web developers to build on their platforms in order to make money from upgrades and end-user licenses for support products, and thus have a vested interest in free shareware. In this sense, 'free' does not mean valueless.
Shared ideas can become valuable if those ideas make a contribution to a greater end product that is worth money. In a structured framework focused on a common goal and with profit-share agreements in place, this is considered co-creation. In an unstructured open source environment, enthusiasts or new practitioners are often more interested in enabling and reputation-building than making money.
The results of publicly-funded university research discoveries are made freely available through journals publication, allowing open source access to all who purchase or download them. However, although universities are strongly encouraged to commercialise results using traditional IPR and knowledge transfer methodologies, small discoveries and new technologies are chasing problems to address but often lack any real market application. So this is a form of open source, though not necessarily an immediately practical one.
IP structure: A Creative Commons license was introduced some years ago to denote materials that are free to use without seeking permission. Open source can build new knowledge; spawn innovation, new products and businesses. It serves a purpose to those who make a personal decision to work in such a way.
2. Consumer- or user-led crowdsourcing
User insights, ideas-based competitions, PR, no defined problem, no safety or quality control. (Image via Onedegree.ca)
User-led crowdsourcing is a modern form of consumer insight research that has replaced the small focus groups used by traditional market research firms. Large corporate brand owners launch competitions, often through PR firms, to source new product ideas and improvements from a consumer or user base; an expert panel sifts the ideas and declares a winner. Although the ideas submitted are of variable quality the PR value can be beneficial. Occasionally a good submission can lead to a commercial payback.
IP structure: In general these types of competitions do not attract professional originators due to the negligible IP terms, where all commercial advantage is often assigned to the brand owner running the competition as a condition of entry. Rewards rarely exceed a small cash prize, free product samples or a little PR.
Download the full article (PDF - 111KB)
About the author
Maxine J Horn is founder and CEO of British Design Innovation (BDI). Maxine began her career in design media publishing before taking on new business development roles at board level within strategic design consultancies. She launched British Design Initiative Ltd in 1993 to assist exporting design firms share market knowledge and costs – the first membership organisation to put the commercial design sector on the UKTI export map – and launched the national online Design Directory in 1996. In 2005 Maxine licensed the assets of British Design Initiative to British Design Innovation as a spin-out (the independent not-for-profit trade association is owned and driven by six national board directors supported by 24 regional directors, with further input from over 500 directors of its member companies, each with more than 10 years business and sector experience). British Design Innovation
9 Pavilion Parade
Brighton, United Kingdom
BN2 1RA
m: + 44 07803 297 150
t: + 44 0 1273 675 317
e:
w: www.britishdesigninnovation.org
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