Organizations increasingly open their innovation processes to leverage knowledge from external sources such as research institutes, suppliers, and users (outside-in) and to exploit internal knowledge through external use such as licensing, selling, or spinning out innovations. Open innovation has been found to reduce costs, accelerate time to market, and create new revenue streams for both start-ups and established firms.

Nonetheless, managing open innovation is difficult. The new way of innovating also creates new challenges. For instance, when innovations are not only developed within, but co-created with other companies and communities, questions of intellectual property (IP) become salient. In addition, organizations need to develop new capabilities such as formulating open calls for crowdsourcing contests, sustaining participation in innovation communities, and managing knowledge outflows by selectively revealing knowledge to the public.

The course “E&I Zone: Challenges with Open Innovation” focuses on the opportunities and challenges that firms have to deal with when they open their innovation processes. After successfully completing the course, participants will be familiar with the issues that arise for entrepreneurs and managers of companies in the formulation of open innovation strategies.

Students will develop their skills working on a case in a team, thus refining their abilities in group works, case analyses, presentations, and classroom discussions.

The course is structured as follows:

Day 1 & 2 are dedicated to exploring the concept of open innovation and elaborating on strategies for managing outside-in and inside-out knowledge flows. Lectures comprise case studies, selected articles, and practical examples. Students have time to work on their case study guided by the instructors.

Day 3: Students present their findings in-class and receive feedback from their peers and the faculty.

This course targets all students of the major "Entrepreneurship & Innovation", equally those who intend to become independent with their own innovative business idea, those who want to invest into such ideas, e.g., as a venture capitalist, or students who are interested to work in corporate innovation management or who decide on a career in innovation consulting.

The teaching language is English.

The goal of the course is to deepen and enhance the knowledge of students about open innovation. After successfully completing the course, students will be able to:

• critically reflect on ‘open innovation’ and its strategic implications,
• examine methods of intellectual property protection, evaluate their value, and derive strategic decisions,
• consider strategic aspects of protecting versus revealing knowledge,
• understand the role of inter-organizational relationships and networks for innovation,
• realize the ramifications of managing knowledge flows between firms,
• deploy open innovation strategies and present them professionally.

In addition, students will:

• get insights into a current topic in the academic community,
•  receive inspiration for own research projects,
•  enhance their professional collaboration and communication skills.

To complete this course with a positive grade, students must attend 80% of scheduled classes

The course design employs various learning formats:

• lecture of key theoretical concepts
• case study work in teams
• individual reading of literature
• student presentation
• essay

Students are required to read the literature upfront! The assignment will be made available with sufficient time before the block seminar (day 1 & 2).

The assessment is based on continuous class participation, case-study work as well as the assignment.

• 40% case-study presentation (group mark)
• 20% case-study essay (individual mark)
• 10% pre-assignment (individual mark)
• 30% class participation (individual mark)

Please note that course registration is binding. The moment your registration is received, it is regarded as a clear commitment on your part. Students cannot drop the course or transfer to another course (once the add/drop period is over) with no exceptions, as it would be unfair to other students (who might not have gotten into the course of their choice because of the spot you registered for).

Interest and experience in technology and innovation management are advantageous, but not a prerequisite for participation.

Contact Christian Garaus
E-mail: Christian.Garaus@wu.ac.at