Beyond Open Innovation - Concept of networked innovation

The paper goes beyond open innovation and expands the research framework of networked innovation from open source communities or idea markets to more traditional industries and co-creation between partners. The paper is conceptual, and the target is to empirically research the firms' practices of innovation process, focusing on how they utilise external sources and collaborate, in an open, or distributed and networked context of innovation. The work applies the methodology of constructive research and the concepts have been constructed and tested within several interviews and thematic group discussions with representatives of six firms. Collaboration practices of the firms in innovation have diverse forms varying between formal versus informal and open versus closed forms of collaboration. We argue that different levels of openness are a key element of networked innovation both in theoretical framework and firms' practices. Two types of networked innovation models can be distinguished according to level of openness and interaction in their knowledge sharing: networks focusing to transaction of knowledge and intellectual property, and networks focusing to co-creation of new knowledge and intellectual property.