Reflections on my inaugural lecture at Eindhoven University of Technology, October 7, 2022
Standing in the same room where I once gave my graduation speech as a student, I began my inaugural lecture with a simple but profound quote: "Not all the smart people in the world work for us" — a quote a first read in the book called "Open Innovation."
A Journey That Began in Eindhoven
When I first read Henry Chesbrough's book "Open Innovation" as a student here at TU/e, I was actually in Gothenburg, Sweden, working on my Master thesis. The concept immediately resonated with me—I was studying the tension between knowledge sharing and knowledge protection in R&D collaborations, something I would later call the "open innovation paradox." That tension between openness and protection has followed me throughout my career.
Twenty years later, returning to Eindhoven as a Full Professor felt like closing a circle. But it's not really closed—it's more like a spiral, constantly evolving and building on what came before.
The Brainport Story: From Closed Walls to Open Ecosystems
It's fitting that this lecture took place in Eindhoven, the heart of the Brainport region—sometimes called the world's smartest region. But it hasn't always been this way.
Before the turn of the century, Philips' research campus was quite literally closed to outsiders. Then they made a pivotal decision: break down the walls, open up the fences, and create what we now know as the High Tech Campus—a melting pot of innovation and cross-fertilization of knowledge.
Or look at ASML today, one of the world's leading manufacturers of chip-making equipment. Their own website states that their success depends on building an ecosystem through open innovation—collaborating with customers, relying on supply chains, and building long-term partnerships.
These aren't just feel-good stories. They're evidence of a fundamental shift in how innovation works.
Why This Matters Now More Than Ever
I have to be honest: as an academic, a citizen, and a father of three boys, I'm deeply concerned about the major challenges we face—climate change, cyber security, geopolitical instability, and the lingering impacts of COVID-19 (still quite prevalent at the time and which caused my inaugural lecture to take place more than two years after I actually started).
When I think about my children's future, it can feel overwhelming. But there is hope.
The Beer That Wasn't About Beer
One of my favorite case studies comes from my time in Copenhagen: the Carlsberg Green Fiber Bottle project. (And to be clear, this example has very little to do with beer actually.)
Carlsberg, a beer company—not a bottle producer—decided to develop a biodegradable bottle to create circular waste streams and fight climate change. Flemming Besenbacher, the former chairman of the Carlsberg Foundation, announced this ambitious goal at the World Economic Forum, but he was also clear about something crucial: they needed help from others because they didn't have all the capabilities in-house.
As he later put it: "For the Green Fiber Bottle, sustainability is the why, and open innovation is the how." (See also my publication in the British Food Journal on "Sustainable open innovation to address a grand challenge : Lessons from Carlsberg and the Green Fiber Bottle" with Henry Chesbrough and Robert Strand.)
This case taught me valuable lessons about individual motivation, ecosystem building, and finding the right business model—all essential for tackling grand challenges.
What Open Innovation Actually Means
Picture a firm's innovation process as a funnel. Traditionally, companies build on their internal knowledge base to develop new products and services for their market. But open innovation opens the boundaries of this funnel:
- Inbound open innovation: External knowledge flows in (like LEGO's crowdsourcing platform where users submit designs for new products)
- Outbound open innovation: Internal knowledge finds its way outside (like Philips licensing technology or spinning off innovations)
- Coupled open innovation: Combining both inflows and outflows (like the Senseo coffee machine or Airfryer collaborations)
We define it formally as: "a distributed innovation process based on purposively managed knowledge flows across organizational boundaries, using pecuniary and non-pecuniary mechanisms in line with the organization's business model." (Chesbrough & Bogers, 2014)
That's a mouthful, but the essence is simple: innovation happens when we deliberately manage how knowledge moves across boundaries—whether or not money changes hands—in a way that fits how the organization creates and captures value.
The Research Journey: From Individuals to Ecosystems
My research spans multiple levels, from the microfoundations of open innovation to the dynamics of entire ecosystems. Some key findings:
At the individual level:
- Employee diversity—especially educational background—positively impacts firm-level openness
- Managers' technical competence helps employees leverage external knowledge sources
- The "not-invented-here syndrome" and "fear of looking foolish" create real barriers to open innovation
At the organizational level:
- Openness has an inverted-U relationship with performance—you can be too open
- This holds for both product and process innovation, though effects differ
- Open innovation must be supported by the entire organization, not just R&D
At the ecosystem level:
- Successfully addressing grand challenges requires combining urgent action with long-term thinking
- We need to look beyond the usual suspects to solve complex problems
- Sometimes less "strategic" approaches based on effectuation principles work better than rigid planning
Lessons from COVID-19
The pandemic showed both the tragic failure of global supply chains and the power of rapid collaborative response. We studied the massive European hackathon EUvsVirus, which engaged 500+ partners from 40+ countries through crowdsourcing as an open innovation tool.
The lesson? When challenges are grand, complex, and urgent, open innovation becomes necessary—not optional.
The Personal Journey
My path took me from Eindhoven to Berkeley, Gothenburg, Lausanne (EPFL), Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, and back to Eindhoven. At each stop, I learned something essential:
- From my supervisors Rudi Bekkers and Ove Granstrand: The foundation for rigorous research and lasting collaboration.
- From EPFL and Dominique Foray: The importance of building strong international networks—and Dominique noted that my network was even better at finding me than I was at finding it.
- From choosing SDU over seemingly "better" offers: Follow your instinct and choose environments where you can develop in ways that suit you best.
- From Henry Chesbrough: That open innovation isn't just a research topic but something you can apply in practice—including in how you build research communities.
One piece of advice I'd give: it's not always necessary or even good to rush your career. Focus on your passion and the process. When you do that with the right mindset and "business model," good things will come your way.
Looking Forward
The core of open innovation is the ability to create ecosystems where people, organizations, and sectors foster co-creation. It involves business models that dynamically transcend organizational boundaries within innovation ecosystems.
I believe working in ecosystems is how we'll truly tackle societal challenges. Not just companies and universities, but governments, citizens, and civil society—the Triple or even Quadruple Helix working together.
Whether you're learning to plan your homework, solving a Rubik's Cube, training for a marathon, or tackling climate change through collaborative innovation: if you work hard, if you work smart, and if we work together, we can make it to the finish line.
Watch the Full Lecture
Want to dive deeper? Watch the complete inaugural lecture to hear the full story, see the examples in action, and experience the moment when everything came full circle.
Marcel Bogers is Professor of Open & Collaborative Innovation at the Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology. His research focuses on open innovation, business model innovation, and innovation ecosystems, with particular emphasis on how these approaches can address societal grand challenges.
Marcel Bogers is a Full Professor of Open & Collaborative Innovation at the Eindhoven University of Technology and a Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
He speaks, writes, and advises on how organizations can create and capture value through openness and collaboration.
Blog posts written with some help of AI! 🙂
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