Ross at the MaRS blog has an interesting post on Open Source Science. He points to an interview at HBS Working Knowledge with Karim Lakhani. I agree with Ross that the most promising aspects of open-source approaches are the possibilities of collaborating between domains, at Johansson’s intersections.
I told Tom and Jevon at Enterprise2.0Camp that i think one of the most interesting applications of Enterprise 2.0 collaboration tools is to facilitate innovation networks. Innovation networks are not open-source by definition, but they lie on a continuum of closed/proprietary to open/public domain innovation approaches. In my observations of competitive social behaviour among companies, institutions and non-profit organizations, there are many structural, political and social barriers to high-levels of collaboration on such a strategically sensitive area as research, innovation and product development. There are also strong collective economic incentives for doing it: reduced risk, reduced individual capital requirements, faster innovation cycles and giving a cluster of SME’s the research capacity of a large multinational.
Back at BarCampToronto2.0, I facilitated a session where we hoped to understand the economic rationale of open-source. You can see the rough notes from the session here. (Thanks again Deb!)
- Why do developers contribute to open-source software projects?
- What is the exchange of value that happens within open-source projects?
- What is the relationship between companies and open-source communities?
- What can we learn from open-source software that can be applied to other areas of scientific, technological, business, social and policy innovation?
I hope to continue developing that line of thought, but it now sits on a back-burner with many other ideas waiting for an opportunity to develop them further. In the context of the literature on creative clusters, I believe that open-source innovation and Enterprise 2.0 collaboration are two very promising areas for further research and practice.
My thesis: the global megalopolis that can integrate new innovation models such as these into its structure and culture will, in aggregate, innovate faster and over time become more competitive in a post-industrial, post-information age global economy.
Anybody want to collaborate?
Technorati Tags: clusters, creativeclusters, enterprise20, Innovation, opensource, intellectualproperty
December 6th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
I see a big difference between open-source projects and Enterprise 2.0. As I see it, the latter is primarily for people to collaborate within an organization or group of organizations, while open source is for collaboration among individuals. I think the distinction is important because the social/political forces involved are very different. For instance, I suspect that one of Enterprise 2.0’s biggest strengths is that it reduces the power of silos to keep people from collaborating, while silos are a much smaller issue in open source.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
To clarify, I was referring to open collaboration for non-software innovation, which is an area where Enterprise 2.0 tools can have a huge impact. Open-source software projects are the model, and enterprise 2.0 tools may enable that model to be applied to other domains where proprietary innovation paradigms are the only game in town.
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:25 pm
[...] Open Source Innovation Models [...]
January 12th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
[...] I am looking forward to participating in the emerging community around this important new book. It links closely to my thoughts around the role of open innovation networks in regional economic development, a theme I will be pursuing this year with some great thinkers. Watch this space. [...]