November 2009 Leading 'Open Innovation' Guru to Visit NUI Galway

"Open Innovation – a new model for Research & Development" will be the topic of discussion at a special lecture at 6pm on Thursday, 12 November, in Áras Moyola, NUI Galway. NUI Galway s Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC), as part of the InterTradeIreland All-island Innovation Programme, will host the forthcoming lecture by international expert Professor Henry Chesbrough, the Executive Director of the Centre for Innovation at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkley. Professor Chesbrough has a unique background as both a practitioner and researcher, having spent 10 years in senior product planning and strategic marketing positions in Silicon Valley. Chesbrough's book, Open Innovation, which articulates a new paradigm for organising and managing R&D, was named a Best Business Book by Strategy & Business magazine. Professor Chesbrough, says: "Useful knowledge is no longer concentrated in a few large organisations – business leaders must adopt a new, 'open' model of innovation". The concept of open innovation advocates that companies can no longer keep their own innovations secret. The key to success is creating an open platform around innovations so customers, employees and even competitors can build upon them. Only then will there be created an ongoing, evolving community of users, doers and creators. The open innovation concept goes against the traditional view of companies protecting their intellectual property and undertaking all of the R&D and market development of new products or services themselves. Professor Chesbrough, adds: "Today, in many industries, the logic that supports an internal and centralised approach to R&D has become obsolete. In the past, internal R&D was a valuable strategic asset, even a formidable barrier to entry by competitors in many markets. Today, the leading industrial enterprises of the past have been encountering remarkably strong competition from many upstarts". Dr James Cunningham, Director, CISC, NUI Galway, explains: "The new logic of open innovation embraces external ideas and knowledge in conjunction with internal R&D. In short, firms that can harness outside ideas to advance their own businesses, while leveraging their internal ideas outside their current operations, are likely to thrive in this new era of open innovation. Companies like Proctor & Gamble are embracing this open innovation approach". InterTradeIreland Strategy & Policy Director Aidan Gough said: "The theme of open innovation has a strong resonance with our own work in IInterTradeIreland. Through our programmes and initiatives InterTradeIreland is facilitating the development of an open innovation system between the two jurisdictions on this island to deliver not only a more efficient use of the two jurisdictions' knowledge resources, but also a more effective one as well". Professor Chesbrough's key note lecture at NUI Galway is part of the InterTradeIreland All-island Innovation Programme. The Programme, a partnership between InterTradeIreland, NUI Galway, University College Dublin and Queens University Belfast, aims to promote and encourage innovation across the island of Ireland. Those interested in attending should contact valerie.parker@nuigalway.ie and online at www.nuigalway.ie/cisc. Attendance is open to all and the event is free to attend. -ends-