Open innovation: collaboration as a driver of new solutions

Innovation is part of the human DNA. Even the most conservative minds adapt to change when circumstances demand it. We live in an ever-changing world, and companies have no choice but to innovate if they want to keep up with the times. But just because innovation is necessary does not mean it is easy - far from it.

In the day-to-day running of a business, there is often a lack of time and resources to devote to exploring new ideas. This limited scope for action hinders the ability of many organisations to innovate, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). How can innovation be encouraged despite these constraints? One increasingly clear answer is to open up the company to collaboration with the environment.

What is Open Innovation?

Open innovation is the strategy that encourages companies to look beyond the walls of their organisation to develop new solutions. Rather than relying solely on internal ideas and resources, open innovation is about collaborating with external actors - other companies, universities, research centres, start-ups, customers or even society - to co-create innovations.

The concept stems from the work of Professor Henry Chesbrough, who defined it as a new way of managing innovation by opening it up to external sources to create more value and impact.

Benefits of working with the R&D&I ecosystem

A commitment to open innovation and collaboration with universities and research centres offers companies several benefits:

• Access to cutting-edge knowledge: Universities and research centres have experts and cutting-edge technologies. By collaborating, the company can benefit from the latest discoveries and specialised knowledge that would be difficult to obtain on its own.
• Outside talent and creativity: Opening doors to external researchers, students or entrepreneurs brings in new ideas and creative perspectives. This flow of talent fosters a more dynamic culture within the organisation.
• Shared infrastructure and resources: Collaboration agreements allow companies to use state-of-the-art facilities at university research centres.
• Reduced costs and risks: By sharing project costs and risks, it is more feasible to explore breakthrough innovations.
• Closer to market and society: Co-created solutions are more responsive to real needs and can be more easily transferred to the market.

The UAB Research Park, a driving force for collaborative projects

The UAB Research Park is a clear example of this collaborative approach. As a bridge between the business world and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, it facilitates links between companies and research groups, promoting joint projects that generate economic and social value.

The Parc provides access to

• Research groups specialised in different fields.
• Leading infrastructures and laboratories.
• Knowledge and technologies that can be transferred to the business sector.
• Young talent and format, through internships and industrial doctorate programmes.

Open Innovation Activities 

One of the first major milestones in Open Innovation was the organisation of the UAB-CEI Open Science & Innovation Forum, which brought together more than 250 participants from companies and researchers and generated almost 100 b2b meetings.

Based on this experience, UAB Research Park participates in the Open Innovation Forum programme, a platform that connects business challenges with academic and scientific solutions. Companies can publish challenges and research groups can propose solutions, with face-to-face meetings to generate joint projects.

Also following this model, ACCIÓ has created the Open Innovation Challenge, which is used at major congresses such as Advanced Factories, Health Revolution Congress, Mobile World Congress, ISE, Alimentaria and Smart City Expo.

The Park actively participates by identifying UAB research groups capable of responding to the challenges posed by companies and guiding them through the collaboration process.

What comes next?

The commitment of the UAB Research Park is clear: to continue to foster this type of collaboration to create an environment where innovative ideas can grow and be transformed into real solutions.

If your company has a technological challenge or if you are part of a research group with applicable knowledge, we encourage you to join one of the Open Innovation initiatives in which we participate.

Get in touch with us! Together we can make innovation a real driver of change in Catalonia.