Open Innovation in Health Care

Abstract

Traditionally, the dominant form of innovation required that firms generate ideas internally and subsequently develop and market resulting products themselves. Yet, this mode of innovation is not always the best solution, because a single firm might not possess all relevant knowledge or capabilities. The open innovation concept, therefore, postulates that ideas and knowledge should be used as both inputs and outputs for the innovation process. In contrast to other industries, the health care industry holds peculiarities that influence and restrict the open innovation concept. This chapter analyses existing literature to describe the current state of research for open innovation in general and to specifically analyze health care industry characteristics. We discuss differences in organizations, norms, regulations and data protection, intellectual property (IP) protection culture as well as innovation complexity and information asymmetry. In addition, we present solutions for each of these peculiarities to develop a comprehensive understanding of open innovation in health care.