Open Innovation is a term coined by Henry Chesbrough in 2003. to describe a phenomenon in R&D interfirm cooperation, that is more and more present. In his seminal book “Open Innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology“, he states: “Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology”.
Since then, this phenomenon has been developed and researched by scientist around the world, producing thousands of research articles in dozens of scientific journals. A significant number of research has shown that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should also use this approach but, due to various limitations, not in the same way as big companies do. Furthermore, SMEs in developing countries may experience even more obstacles when applying this concept to their innovation efforts, which calls for special tools & procedures to be used in this context.
oi4sme.com is an ongoing project based on dr Petar Vrgović’s research collaboration with Fraunhofer IAO research institute, which started in Stuttgart in 2014, being partially founded by the DAAD. The two main goals of this project are: to offer knowledge related to Open Innovation to SME owners and managers, and to develop a network for joint collaboration during innovation processes.
Petar Vrgović is an associate professor at Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. With a bacis degree in Psychology and a PhD in Industrial Management, he is insterested in the crossection between systems and humans, especially in the field of Innovation. He is an experienced researcher and consultant in the areas of Creativity, Business Communication and Human Resource Management aspects of Innovation.
for research and communication-related consultancy, please contact me at: vrgovic (at) uns.ac.rs
for innovation-related consultancy, please contact: connect (at) oi4sme.com
www.linkedin.com/in/petarvrgovic/