開放式創新的服務脈絡(III)

Abstract

開放式創新的議題近年來受到矚目，企業越來越重視跨界的創新合作。整體而言，這個趨勢對企業帶來兩項重要衝擊。第一，企業的研發作業漸漸由封閉式創新，改變為開放式創新。開放式創新鼓勵企業將研發活動拓展到組織疆界之外。企業由內部研發模式轉變為對外合作創新模式。第二，也因此，企業對外的知識尋購以及研發策略聯盟活動就更加積極。但是，在目前對開放式創新的研究中，似乎多圍繞在「知識尋購」的方式與「策略聯盟」的作法，對於知識創生過程似乎著墨不多。這其中有三個理論缺口。第一，開放式創新需要整合、混搭不同領域的知識，或稱為「知識中介」。可是我們對創新者如何進行知識中介的作法卻所知有限。我們更缺乏對創新者工作脈絡的深入理解。第二，當今文獻對開放式創新的理解還是多停留在工業產品開發之觀念。我們對於服務產業如何能進行開放式創新所知有限。而且，我們對如何應用服務創新的觀念到傳統產業（如汽車、製藥、資訊電子等）來進行開放式創新也多半不理解。第三，引進開放式創新時，企業不免要進行跨國研發活動。當更多企業將研發中心設置於境外時，研發會遇到什麼在地挑戰，我們又如何能將當地機構所附加的制約與阻力，轉化為創新的助力呢？這三個議題是當前開放式創新文獻急需補強的地方，也是企業在進行開放式研發時，首當其衝會遇到的三大挑戰。本研究計畫以質性研究方法，實地訪查領先企業在大中華區之境外研發活動。這項頗具規模的調查是希望了解領先企業的當代研發作為，也對開放式創新、服務創新與創新國際化的學理與實務有所貢獻。

In a significant way, firms are paying more attention to the concept of open innovation. By implementing open innovation, firms emphasize more on cross-boundary collaboration and strategic alliances to boost their R&D (Research and Development) performance. As a whole, this brings about two major impacts. First, firms’ R&D practices are shifting from close innovation model to collaborative innovation model. Firms are encouraged to expand their R&D activities outside their organizational boundaries. Second, firms become more active in knowledge sourcing and R&D strategic alliance. However, although there are increasing interests in open innovation, and we know relatively well on innovation alliance, we seem to ignore the knowledge creation process within the open innovation model. There are three theoretical gaps. First, when implementing open innovation, we need to integrate, and mix, different domains of knowledge, a process which is known as knowledge brokering. We seem to know little about this brokering process in innovation. Moreover, to understand knowledge brokering, we also need to examine the innovator’s practices, which is another missing piece in current literature. Second, our understanding of open innovation is still base on industrial R&D model. We know little on how open innovation could be used in service sectors. We also pay scant attention to how concept of service innovation could be used in open innovation in industrial organizations. Third, as firms introduce open innovation in their offshore R&D centers, research staffs will surely encounter institutional barriers and have to manage local contingencies. How may innovators turn the local challenges into enablers for innovation? This is another issue unanswered. This research plans to initiate a series of in-depth case studies to explore these issues. The findings will contribute to both the theory and practice of open innovation, service innovation and globalization of innovation.