Open Innovation Comes to Namibia

The All Africa website posted an article which noted that open innovation has developed from a buzzword into an established practice of innovation management. Sources of external input for innovation are plentiful, including market actors like customers, suppliers, competitors; the scientific system of university labs and research institutions; public authorities like patent agents and public funding agencies; and mediating parties like technology consultants, media, and conference organisers. A key aspect of OI is to connect the organization with a community that can assist with ideas, networking- and other skills; and subsequently OI evolved in such a manner that successful open innovation relies on intermediaries and platforms connecting an organisation with outside solution providers, so called Open Innovation Accelerators (OIAs).

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