Open Innovation

Free sharing of technological information has a long history in all fields, so my proposal was certainly not the first of its kind nor the last. As I recall, IBM would willingly license their patents to any who were interested in a nominal royalty (1%) to any who were interested, effectively giving free access to its technology. Later, IBM led a group of others (Nokia, Pitney Bowes, Sony) to pledge environmentally-centered patents to the public domain and thus to establish the Eco-Patent Commons that released dozens of innovations focused on delivering environmental benefits. F/RAND licensing under standards organizations is in the same vein; of course, also, free and open software or public domain software has been around since the start of the computer age in the 1950s. So any debate about open innovation is not really about its principles or underlying benefits. Rather, the debate is always about its scope and role in the respective technology space and within the surrounding business milieu.

The threshold inquiry is whether or not the innovation is to be used as a tool of competition by the holder of the innovation. The same is true for data that results from the use of our innovative tools for collecting, organizing, and analyzing information. This is a qualitative review, not a quantitative one (e.g., we have too much data; therefore, it should all be open and available).

My strong suspicion is that nearly all innovations and data are not used as tools of competition by their holders. Policy, past practice, and politics keep them protected. For example, patented inventions are often only nominally disclosed and shared with the public in exchange for a patent grant of exclusion. Non-public business information that is not a trade secrets is routinely held confidential by transacting parties. Many privacy regimes adopted by companies limit the disclosure or use of personal data indiscriminately.

For good or bad, today’s business works through the gears of regulations and compliance, and this tends to cement these reflexive responses. This is sidestepped, though, when there is an honest assessment of one’s innovations and intellectual property. More problematic is the follow-through. Many see risk; many see a lack of immediate tangible benefit. My advice is to look through that long, rich history in the sharing of technological information – similar opportunities will certainly present themselves to champion open innovation where appropriate.