Open Source, Open Development, Open Innovation

by Amir Nettler on 3 November 2009

Introduction

The hashtag for this event is #opendev09

7 December 2009, 09:30 - 16:00 The University Club , 11 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ

This event is now over. The original reading list for the workshop and the live blog archive are available to view. Links to the speakers’ presentations may be found below.

There is also a workshop report available on the OSS Watch blog.

This workshop was held concurrently with a workshop on engaging community in open development.

The central concept behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, organisations cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research. Open innovation is a means by which companies can both collaborate on research and share outputs. Although originally defined by Chesbrough as being dependent on patented technologies made available under licence there is growing recognition that open source software provides an excellent means for sharing outputs in a controlled and managed way in order to facilitate further innovation.

This workshop will introduce open innovation as defined by Chesbrough and look at how it applies to software outputs from academic research institutions. We will look at how open innovation through open source and open development of software can result in more sustainable software outputs and increased opportunities for continued work. Finally, we will look at how these models allow for commercial or social exploitation of outputs whilst allowing the researcher to remain focused on research rather than business planning.

The event is free to UK higher and further education.

Aims and Objectives

At the end of this workshop you will:

  • Understand the basic models of open innovation
  • Be able to apply open innovation concepts to open source software development in research environments
  • Develop open innovation engagement plans for research software outputs

Target Audience

This workshop will be of interest to anyone conducting research that produces software outputs. Participants will either be engaged with non-academic partners or will be interested in engaging in an unobtrusive way. The primary audience for this workshop is:

  • Principal investigators
  • Funding bodies’ programme managers
  • Technology transfer professionals

Programme

Attendees are invited afterwards to an informal gathering at a pub with members of OSS Watch.