Managing Inside-Out Open Innovation
Henry W. Chesbrough, Chris Winter · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2014
Outside-in Open Innovation is widely adopted by companies and also the most often studied by academics. Yet there is a second half to the open innovation model: the inside-out portion. This chapter examines the underpinnings of the inside-out model, and sketches a number of applications of it. In particular, the chapter looks at why corporations are well-advised to allow internal projects to go to the outside, through a corporate venture spin-out process. The chapter identifies a particular novel kind of spin-out, the complex spin-out venture. Complex spin-outs require extensive integration of multiple technologies and assets in the formation of the venture, a process where a corporation may have a natural advantage over traditional venture capital. Complex spin-out ventures can create new options for the company, support business model innovation, and lead to competitively advantaged ventures that traditional VC is not well suited to achieve.