A New Paradigm for Innovative Service Design

In academia and in practice, growing attention has recently been devoted to the concept of open innovation. Organizations have shifted from so-called closed innovation processes towards a more open way of innovating. The seminal work is Open Innovation. The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology by Henry Chesbrough (2003).

Traditionally, new business development processes have taken place within individual organizations. Several factors, however, have led to the erosion of traditional, closed innovation. First of all, the mobility and availability of highly educated people has increased over the years. As a result, large amounts of knowledge exist outside of the research laboratories of large organizations. Furthermore, when employees change jobs, they take their knowledge with them, resulting in increasing knowledge flows between companies.

Secondly, the availability of venture capital has recently increased significantly, which makes it possible for promising ideas and technologies to be further developed outside of the business organization. Besides, the possibilities to further develop ideas and technologies outside the organization are growing, for instance, in the form of spin-offs or through licensing agreements. Finally, other organizations in the supply chain play an increasingly important role in the innovation process.

As a result, companies and organizations have started to look for other ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their innovation processes through an active search for new technologies and ideas outside the firm, and through cooperation with suppliers and competitors in order to create greater customer value. Another important aspect is the further development of ideas and technologies that do not fit the strategy of the organization. Open innovation can thus be described as: combining internal and external ideas as well as internal and external paths to market to advance the development of new technologies and innovations.

Open innovation is the new paradigm for managing R&D and business activities. As a fresh and challenging approach, open innovation can have broad application in various industries – also in (service) design. The connections, contacts, and communications between the industries and experts in different fields are highly important to the innovation processes. It is of great importance to create, support, and promote contexts and environments where creative processes and serendipity can take place.

Innovation models and systems provide a useful view of the complex world of innovations and creative processes. However, we should not forget that innovations and creativity are human characteristics – the individual, social networks, and interaction form the core of all creativity. It is indicative that the terms homo creativus and homo ludens have been used in the contemporary debate. We have understood that the human is not merely a homo economicus of economic rationality nor the engineering blacksmith of homo faber, but also the playful, creative human of homo ludens and homo creativus.


Further reading:

Chesbrough, Henry (2003). Open Innovation. The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Inkinen, Sam & Kaivo-oja, Jari (2009). Understanding Innovation Dynamics. Aspects of Creative Processes, Foresight Strategies, Innovation Media, and Innovation Ecosystems. FFRC eBook 9/2009. Finland Futures Research Centre, Turku School of Economics.