Many engaged in open innovation discussions

Cynthia McIntyre of the Council on Competitiveness engages in one of several round table discussions.

Many engaged in open innovation discussions

13.07.2012
”What are the criteria for successsful open innovation?” The question was eagerly discussed by key note speakers as well as a large number of ESOF delegates, when NordForsk brought together academics and business people at a seminar in the science-2-business programme.

The discussions were facilitated by BBC science journalist Quentin Cooper, asking what open innovation actually means.

The speakers, giving examples of successful open innovation projects, included Rick Wielens of Nine Sigma Europe, who pointed out that more and more of total research and development takes place in smaller companies.

Cynthia McIntyre of the Council of Competitiveness, a non-governmental membership organization based in Washington DC, cited examples of successful public private partnerships using open innovation resulting from the council’s high performance computing initiative.

Michael E. Goodsite (Aarhus University) and Björn-Ola Linnér (University of Oxford and Linköping University) explained how NordForsk has brought together researchers and the insurance industry in a Nordic Centre of Excellence project, NORDSTAR, looking into how the future challenges of climate change can be handled.

Inspired by the introductions and Quentin Cooper’s enthusiasm, a large number of the attending delegates took part in the round table discussions, freely debating the success criteria for open innovation

(Text. Dag Inge Danielsen    Photo:  Terje Heiestad)