Organizing Open Innovation for Sustainability

Literature on open innovation has thus far predominantly focused on high technology contexts. Once an industry reaches the limits of a closed innovation model, open innovation may, however, also promise opportunities for sustainable development in a low-tech environment. Because in low-tech environments open innovation is unlikely to emerge spontaneously from the spillovers of R&D, it requires institutions that actively initiate and coordinate open innovation processes. This has subsequently important consequences for marketing, because buyers and sellers may jointly embark on innovation processes that are guided by a third-party organization. Based on a case study on an organization for open innovation in the agro-food industry, this chapter identifies potential contributions and pitfalls of these organizations. Results imply an optimal level between market—and organization-based forms of governing open innovation that depends on industry characteristics such as the stage of industry lifecycle. Implications for policy, business and future research of these findings are discussed.