VOIS - Area 1 - Module 2

  1. MODULE TITLE

Module 2: Main pillars of open innovation strategy
  1. AUTHORS

Ewa Kopczynska
  1. SHORT DESCRIPTION

To benefit from Open Innovation, your company will need an effective strategy accounting for your organisational vision and resource limitations. In this module, you will learn about the key elements of an Open Innovation strategy, such as creating a clear vision of Open Innovation strategy and activities and how to identify needs for external resources in the scope of innovation process. Going through the module, always keep your specific SME in mind to relate the contents to your specific context.
  1. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

    Upon completing this module, you should be able to:

  • Better understand the innovation process and the application of Open Innovation for overcoming shortages in your internal resources and capabilities,
  • Consider different types of innovation for possible application in the scope of your strategy,
  • Design a strategy accounting for a specific vision of your company,
  • Understand the initial steps of your Open Innovation strategy development and what other aspects should be considered afterwards.
  1. Training Content
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LOCAL CASE/EXAMPLE

Soja de Portugal is a Portuguese company established in 1943 with the initial vision to offer its customers all types of soya products. However, due to the easiness of imitation of the company’s offering, it was paralyzed by pressure from competitors shortly before opening. As a result, it needed to rethink its vision. That resulted in opening a new business area focused on highly nutritious solutions for poultry and livestock. As a result of the turbulent beginnings, innovation and adaptation became one of the strategic pillars of the company. Its strategy not only resulted in pivoting from the initial vision, but also in building a broad portfolio of products in the agro-food business, ensuring long-term economic sustainability of the company and its growth across decades.

Image by jnprice73 from Pixabay

Currently, the Soja de Portugal’s product portfolio covers next to the nutritious solutions for poultry and livestock, a poultry meat business, production of pet food, compound feeds for aquaculture, as well as collection, treatment and recovery of animal by-products.

Based on its internal learning, the company’s innovation strategy is strongly based on the concept of Open Innovation. In the first place, it is driven by an open dialogue with its customers, which helps avoiding the mistakes from its past and ensures that the products are well adapted to the needs of clients. The company embraces an Open Innovation approach in its day-to-day operations starting from sourcing knowledge regarding the needs and preferences of the customers directly from them but engaging in their innovation process a broad scope of actors, including internal human resources across departments, suppliers, research institutes, and other relevant partners. Its innovation vision focuses on the development of specific challenges of agri-food sector, which resulted not only in product and market innovation, but also in accompanying process innovation in the area of energy management for “exceptional improvements in the organization’s overall energy consumption”[2].

Thanks to strong attention to innovation and the open approach to it, Soja de Portugal became an engine and a hub for Open Innovation activities in their area. Its Open Innovation expertise and innovation network built through the years (with their origins before the popularization of Open Innovation approach within the general business environment) are an important source of the company’s competitive advantage and the long-term success.

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