The open innovation model: Implications for innovation in Japan

This chapter explores the implications of the transition from closed to open innovation over the past two decades, which Japanese companies have been relatively late to address. Examples of the fate of similar US companies are given. On the one hand, the wide dispersion of critical knowledge for innovation is ignored at great risk. On the other, alternative paths to market for internal ideas may be ignored at great loss. Strategies for dealing with 'false negatives' are explored - which at first look unpromising but later turn out to be valuable - including the time-honoured Japanese practice of spinoffs.