Open Innovation, not for Government?
As I get “many” hits (13397) searching in Business Source Premier/EBSCO with the keywords “innovation” and “government”, I get only 14 hits on “open innovation” and “government”. Can I conclude that there has not been any research done in this area or is there no relationship at all? Any hints?
I am aware that government can set up the best conditions for open innovation to occur through guidelines, assistance and policies. But what about government itself? I was suprised to find the following in an OECD document, page 4. It shows a table of companies collaborating in innovation activites, by partner, 2002-2004. In the Netherlands, only 24% of companies work together with government and public research. That is the lowest number and also less then the 31% of companies, collaborating with their direct competitors. I am not sure what to conclude from these numbers.
The Dutch Innovation Platform mentions “Interaction with external actors is often limited to consultation to gather knowledge or gain support”. I do find reference to innovation programs here, no internal reference to open innovation for government what so ever. Not an issue?
BTW I don’t think my thesis will go in this direction, maybe just a remark in the “Future research” section.