Open Innovation: how to make collaboration truly profitable

Open Innovation speeds up development and fosters innovation. To encourage effective collaboration between academia and business, it is crucial to establish clear agreements and manage intellectual property carefully. This includes both existing (Background IP) and newly created (Foreground IP) intellectual property.

Unlike a "closed" model, where research and development rely only on internal resources and expertise, Open Innovation is a collaborative approach. In this model, universities, research institutes, and companies exchange expertise and resources, enhancing capabilities and facilitating the sharing of technology and intellectual property. This collaboration creates added value and accelerates innovation. In this context, intellectual property is crucial, as it defines who has the right to patent, use, and commercially exploit discoveries.

In particular, there is often an asymmetry of interests between universities and companies. The academic world aims to publish and disseminate research findings, while the industrial sector focuses on gaining competitive advantages and ensuring a return on investment.

Collaborations, therefore, aim to meet both academic and business needs. To achieve true open innovation, it is crucial to have balanced and transparent agreements as well as open dialogue among all parties involved.

Before submitting a collaborative project, USI Transfer, the technology transfer service of Università della Svizzera italiana, supports researchers in drafting contracts with companies and helps align expectations. For this reason, it is essential to clarify and negotiate aspects such as intellectual property (Background IP, Foreground IP), disclosure timelines (publications, etc.) and what information must remain confidential from the outset. With this transparency in mind, USI Transfer has published the framework conditions for various types of collaboration on its "Collaborate with Companies" page. These conditions aim to prevent any unexpected issues down the line.

Open Innovation is supported by programmes such as Eurostars and Innosuisse, which promote collaboration between universities, SMEs and research institutes. This approach is also the basis of the Switzerland Innovation Park Ticino SIP-TI, which has USI among its founding partners. The Park promotes public-private partnerships involving researchers, technology companies and start-ups to develop innovative research and development projects.

Take-home message

Before embarking on a joint project with a company, it is essential to clarify the terms of the collaboration from the outset to avoid issues down the line. Talk to USI Transfer (write to [email protected])

For further information

https://www.rivista-smh.ch/articolo/open-innovation-e-proprieta-intellettuale/ (Italian only)