Open Social Innovation: An Approach to Public Organizations

Introduction

Innovation has a deep impact on social aspects, such as individuals, organizations, and policies. However, the research of innovation becomes more complex in public establishments, where the innovativeness of the organizations and the adaptability of the innovation should follow a determined process (Downs & Mohr, 1976). Despite this complexity, as innovation is a driving factor in the growth of the public sector (North & Thomas, 1973), further investigation of this field is necessary.

Open innovation (OI) is a different approach to the traditional closed perspective. It is defined as “the breaking down of an organization’s boundaries to encourage the flow of knowledge and creativity —both internally and externally — to promote innovation” (Chesbrough, 2003, p. 124). Open innovation is a new paradigm based on principles of integrated collaboration, co-created shared value, cultivated innovation ecosystems, unleashed exponential technologies, and extraordinarily rapid adoption. It is a practice that looks for support, knowledge, experience, and ideas outside of a system as well as internally. It has, at its heart, an ethos of openness and honesty combined with practices of participation and collaboration. These issues together promote a different way of working that is creative, innovative, and founded on relationships of trust and mutual respect. Most publications analyze the role of Open Innovation in the private sector. Chesbrough’s research is probably the most popular work in this field. His survey published in “Managing Innovation in Large Firms” is the largest reported about Open Innovation in recent years (Chesbrough & Brunswicker, 2013). Meanwhile, Lee, Park, Yoon, and Park (2010) have observed Open Innovation performance in small companies, while Parida, Westerberg, and Frishammar (2012) have examined firms from the technological sector.

As traditional or closed innovation does not sufficiently address emerging policy challenges that governmental organizations need to deal with, there is a need for open innovation in the public sector (Bommert, 2010). For example, the United States government has made important commitments to the Open Government Initiative (Obama, 2009, 2012), allowing members of the public to access government data and contribute ideas and expertise to government policy-making and services innovation (Lee, Hwang, & Choi, 2012). Another example is De Publieke Zaak in the Netherlands, a combination of projects that allow government agencies to innovate using insights from citizens. One of these projects is the “21 days of debate” effort where citizens ask questions to (changing) panels of participating politicians during the last 21 days before an election. In other parts of the world, open innovation initiatives are gaining ground. For example, the Singaporean government has implemented an open data portal to make datasets from a large number of agencies available to the public (Yang & Kankanhalli, 2013).

Open Social Innovation (OSI) refers to the discussion of the application of either inbound or outbound open innovation strategies in the public sector to social changes as well as innovations in the organization.

In recent years, several studies about open innovation issues have been focused on the role of Open Innovation in the private sector. Nevertheless, citing Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke, and West (2008, p. 76), “Open Innovation has been mainly studied at the firm level, while other levels of analysis have not been touched upon.” They referred to non-profit organizations and open social innovation practices. Later, Grimm, Fox, Baines, and Albertson (2013) argued that more theoretical and empirical work is needed in the field of open social innovation.

This practice of openness unlocks knowledge and assets that are invaluable to cash-strapped city authorities. It brings about engagement in communities because it promotes transparency and empowers users by involving them in the innovation. Open social innovation processes ensure that the final innovation itself is more relevant and scalable as it has been shaped by the users and stakeholders who know how it will work best and know how it will fit in their environment. Open Innovation practices are useful in the public and private sectors.