Call for Papers

About the Conference (and a Note on Covid-19)

The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is having a profound impact on economic and social life throughout much of the world. How should innovators adapt to the so-called "new normal" and lead their organizations towards recovery? In this year´s edition of the World Open Innovation Conference (WOIC), we will focus on the knowledge and tools from open innovation that help innovators overcome threats, and identify new opportunities for growth and recovery.

If the development of the pandemic permits, the conference will be hosted by the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA. In the unfortunate situation that safe co-location during the conference will not be possible, we are preparing to take WOIC 2020 fully online or offer a blended conference experience, allowing for both physical and digital participation. We are currently monitoring the situation, and have put a digital taskforce in place that will keep you informed about any developments and decisions regarding the location and formats of the conference. In the meantime, we are looking forward to receiving your submissions.

Why Participate in WOIC 2020?

The goal of the WOIC is to bring theory and practice closer together. We seek the latest in academic research on open innovation, and combine that in our program with challenges faced by industry executives who manage open innovation in their organizations. In addition, we aim at engaging policy makers to better understand the opportunities and challenges associated with designing effective open innovation policy measures.

The 7^th Annual WOIC will include traditional research paper sessions, practitioner sessions, and paper development workshops. Depending on the exact format of the conference (i.e. digital, physical or blended), we will organize different interactive sessions that enable and stimulate discussion, constructive feedback, and networking.

For the submission process we welcome both traditional research papers and those with a more managerial or policy orientation. From the accepted submissions, we will be selecting two academic award winners (and runner-up), with one prize for the best student paper and one for the best emerging scholar paper. In addition, the best papers submitted to the conference, whether or not connected to the theme, will be considered for a Special Section of California Management Review (CMR) - see Bogers et al. (2018a; 2019) for the two previous Special Sections from previous WOICs - after further review (see more below).

A separate Call for Challenges will be launched to identify relevant practical issues faced in managing innovation and attract industry participants, while the conference will also feature practitioner awards.

Conference Theme

In light of the current pandemic, we have decided to adapt this year's conference theme. WOIC 2020 will focus on discussing how innovators can meet the challenges of our times by: "Leading the recovery: Turning threats into opportunities with open innovation".

Open innovation describes "a distributed innovation process based on purposively managed knowledge flows across organizational boundaries" (Chesbrough & Bogers, 2014: 17). It provides insights into how firms can harness inflows and outflows of knowledge to improve their innovation success (e.g., Chesbrough, 2003, 2019; Bagherzadeh et al., 2019a; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Zobel, 2017). Recent research has also highlighted how open innovation can be harnessed to address grand challenges (Bogers et al., 2020) and generate social impact (Kohler & Chesbrough, 2019). Several developments throughout the pandemic have already highlighted the crucial role of innovation, openness, and knowledge flows for dealing with the crisis (e.g., Chesbrough, 2020; Wenzel, Stanske, & Lieberman, 2020). Scientists around the world mobilize to collaborate on possible vaccines against the virus. Data and scientific publications are shared more openly to accelerate progress in our combat against Covid-19. Firms are looking for new ways to innovate and collaborate in order to provide essential infrastructure and products, such as masks and ventilators. We believe that many of these examples can provide new insights into our understanding of the underlying processes and value of open innovation, while we also hope that our research on open innovation can provide some insights to address these emerging problems.

As a grand challenge, the Covid-19 crisis is affecting many parts of our lives, and unprecedented coordination and collaboration will be needed to develop comprehensive solutions (George et al., 2016). This will have implications for the management and governance of innovation across private and public stakeholders (Ansell & Gash, 2008). Beyond the innovations related to the direct combat against Covid-19, firms are, more generally, facing various new challenges in their innovation processes. Digital transformation has suddenly become a reality rather than a vision. Despite the financial pressure and economic downturn, firms need to continue to invest in innovation. But how can firms continue to innovate during times of crisis and how might they innovate better, after the crisis has one day passed? What is the role of openness when innovating in times of crisis and how can open innovation support the recovery of organizations and enable new opportunities for growth? We are looking forward to generating and discussing new insights into these timely and pressing questions.

Possible Topics for Submissions

Besides specific submissions in relation to the above-mentioned conference theme, the conference more generally seeks original research on a wide range of topics related to open innovation that contribute to a better multi-level understanding of open innovation. Research questions related to open innovation can be addressed at and across different levels of analysis (e.g., Bogers et al., 2017) - ranging from individuals (e.g., Bogers et al., 2018b), to projects (e.g., Bagherzadeh et al., 2019b; Du et al., 2014), to business models (e.g., Saebi & Foss, 2015), to ecosystems (e.g., Holgersson et al., 2018; Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020; Radziwon & Bogers, 2019), to public sector organizations (Hilgers & Ihl, 2010; Randhawa et al., 2019). Following recently developed open innovation "research categories" that embrace a multi-level perspective (see Bogers et al., 2017), we are seeking submissions related to the following themes:

 

1. Open innovation behavior & cognition, e.g.,
   • Individual-level attributes and behaviors associated with open innovation (e.g., identity, commitment, motivation, resistance to change, communication and learning)
   • Microfoundations of open innovation and related topics
   • The human side of open innovation, and the role of human resource management
2. Open innovation strategy and design, e.g.,
   • Formal and informal organizational structures for open innovation
   • Project-level attributes related to open innovation strategy and design (e.g., project complexity)
   • Nature and outcomes of entrepreneurial opportunities that open innovation can enable to enact
   • Combinations of "open" and "closed" strategies
   • Intellectual property strategy
   • Business model innovation
3. Open innovation communities and users, e.g.,
   • Leveraging knowledge produced by individual users with different abilities and motivations
   • How to sustain different forms of open innovation communities
   • Alignment between organizations and communities of innovation
4. Open innovation ecosystems, e.g.,
   • How new network forms combine value creation and value capture
   • Interactions between heterogeneous actors in innovation ecosystems (and their governance)
   • Governance of digital platforms
   • Crowd-based search and financing
5. Open policy & governance, e.g.,
   • The design, implementation, and effects of policies for open innovation
   • New forms of democracy and collaborative public management (e.g., cities, governments)
6. Related topic areas in this rapidly expanding field, such as
   • Technology, digitization and open innovation
   • Open innovation and sustainability
   • Open science and open innovation in science
   • Open innovation and entrepreneurship
   • Open innovation in different contexts (e.g., services, SMEs, international business)
   • New metrics or methodologies for studying open innovation
   • Linking open innovation to broader theories of management or economics

Submissions

We invite submissions of either extended abstracts (1,500-3,000 words, all inclusive) or full papers (5,000-10,000 words, all-inclusive) for empirical or conceptual papers - with theoretical and/or managerial implications (both due on August 25). These will be considered for the research paper portion of the program. Papers related to the conference theme are encouraged but this is not a requirement. As part of the submission process, you will be asked to indicate 3 to 5 bullet points of managerial highlights that can be derived from the paper and that will be relevant for the practitioners participating in the conference (maximum 100 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

 Authors may choose to submit either type of submission (extended abstracts or full papers), depending on the stage of development of the work they want to present. There will not be a requirement for submitters of (accepted) extended abstracts to submit their full paper. In other words, only one submission will be required. Note that submission of a full paper is a requirement to be considered for awards and/or CMR special section (see more below).

During the submission process, we kindly ask authors to select whether or not the submission fits the conference theme and, if it does not, to select one of the above "open innovation topics" (#'s 1-6) that best fits their submission. These topics will be used in the review process and design of the conference program. We aim to group papers together on the basis of their topics, stage of development, and reviewer evaluation. Papers may be accepted as traditional paper presentations or as a presentation in a more 'developmental' format (the exact format is to be determined once we can reach a final decision on whether the conference will be held in person or online).

The submissions will be reviewed by the WOIC Editorial Board. We will also ask submitting authors whether they are willing to help out as reviewers. The reviewers will also be asked to provide short feedback on each of the submissions (extended abstract or full paper) they review.

All submissions for research papers will be evaluated along the following criteria:

• Theoretical background and development
• Potential theoretical contribution to open innovation research
• Methodological rigor
• Managerial implications for open innovation practice and/or policy
• Clarity of writing
• Fit to conference theme (a fit to the conference theme is encouraged but not required for acceptance)

The reviewers will be asked to take into account whether the submission is an extended abstract or a full paper. In some cases, and especially for extended abstracts, acceptance decisions will be based on a draft that is not yet fully finished - sometimes implying that the analysis of data may not be fully complete. While this is acceptable, the submission should still describe completed (rather than planned) research, and the submitted draft should in itself be complete and coherent. We expect that at least data are collected and initial analyses are done to present preliminary results and conclusions. Proposals that talk about data to be collected will be deferred to a future conference. The extended abstracts and full papers that are accepted for presentation at the conference will be shared among the conference participants.

"Rule of One"

Every author is allowed to present only one paper at the conference. It is allowed to have more than one paper accepted if each paper is presented by a different co-author.

 

Special Section in California Management Review

The journal California Management Review (CMR) will publish a special section on "Open Innovation" with selected papers from this conference. Submission of a full paper on August 25 is required to be considered for the special section.The submitted full papers will be shortlisted based on the above-mentioned criteria - with a fit to the conference theme being encouraged but not required. Authors who aim for the special section are encouraged to submit high quality research with clear managerial implications and to write the paper in line with the style of CMR (see https://cmr.berkeley.edu/resources/submit/).

In connection to the notification of accepted submissions to the conference, authors with papers shortlisted for the CMR special section will be notified and given the opportunity to improve their manuscripts before submitting them for the CMR review process on October 15. A development workshop is organized during the conference to provide additional feedback on the shortlisted papers and to discuss how to develop the papers based on the first round of reviews. If you have questions regarding this process, please contact Marcus Holgersson (marhol@chalmers.se).

 

Awards for Best Paper by a Student and Emerging Scholar

The conference will also feature an award for the best paper by a student (needs to be enrolled as a student during the year 2020) and the best paper by an emerging scholar (PhD awarded 2015-2020). Only full paper submissions will be considered for an award. To be eligible for the award, the student or emerging scholar, respectively, must be the lead author or single author of the paper AND he or she must be the presenting author at the conference. At the time of submission, authors will be asked to indicate whether or not they are eligible for either of these awards.

The finalists of the awards will be honored during the conference and on the WOIC website. The winner of each award will receive a plaque and a $1,000 cash reward.

 

Call for young researchers as moderators for industry sessions

For WOIC 2020, we are looking for 12 young researchers (PhD students or recently graduated) who will act as moderators of problem-solving sessions for current challenges that will be presented by selected firms and discussed by a team of academics and practitioner. Each moderator will receive a Certificate of Completion signed by Professor Henry Chesbrough and be involved in writing one section of the industry white paper. If you are interested in applying, please indicate this during the submission of your extended abstract or full paper or send a message on LinkedIn to Serena Flammini and Chiara de Marco.

Important dates:

• July 1, 2020: Submission website opens.
• August 25, 2020: Submission deadline for extended abstracts and full papers.
• September 30, 2020: Notification of accepted submissions.
• October 15, 2020: Registration deadline for accepted submissions.
• October 15, 2020: Deadline for Early Bird registration.
• October 15, 2020: Deadline for submitting shortlisted papers to the CMR special section review process
• December 10-11, 2020: Conference dates (University of California, Berkeley or 'online').
  

References

Ansell, C., & Gash, A. 2008. Collaborative governance in theory and practice. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 18(4): 543-571.

Bagherzadeh, M., Markovic, S., & Bogers, M. 2019a. Managing Open Innovation: A Project-Level Perspective. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

Bagherzadeh, M., Markovic, S., Cheng, J., & Vanhaverbeke, W. 2019b. How Does Outside-In Open Innovation Influence Innovation Performance? Analyzing the Mediating Roles of Knowledge Sharing and Innovation Strategy. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2018.2889538 

Bogers, M.; Chesbrough, H.; Strand, R. 2019. Sustainable Open Innovation to Address a Grand Challenge: Lessons from Carlsberg and the Green Fiber Bottle. British Food Journal, 1–25.

Bogers, M., Chesbrough, H., & Moedas, C. 2018a. Open innovation: Research, practices, and policies. California Management Review, 60(2): 133-144.

Bogers, M., Foss, N. J., & Lyngsie, J. 2018b. The "human side" of open innovation: The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness. Research Policy, 47(1): 218-231.

Bogers, M., Chesbrough, H., Heaton, S., & Teece, D. J. 2019. Strategic management of open innovation: A dynamic capabilities perspective. California Management Review, 62(1): 77-94.

Bogers, M., Zobel, A-K., Afuah, A., Almirall, E., Brunswicker, S., Dahlander, L., Frederiksen, L., Gawer, A., Gruber, M., Haefliger, S., Hagedoorn, J., Hilgers, D., Laursen, K., Magnusson, M.G., Majchrzak, A., McCarthy, I.P., Moeslein, K.M., Nambisan, S., Piller, F.T., Radziwon, A., Rossi-Lamastra, C., Sims, J. & Ter Wal, A.J. 2017. The open innovation research landscape: Established perspectives and emerging themes across different levels of analysis. Industry & Innovation, 24(1), 8-40.

Chesbrough, H. 2003. Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Chesbrough, H., & Bogers, M. 2014. Explicating open innovation: Clarifying an emerging paradigm for understanding innovation. In H. Chesbrough, W. Vanhaverbeke, & J. West (Eds.), New Frontiers in Open Innovation: 3-28. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chesbrough,H. 2019.  Open Innovation Results: Going Beyond the Hype and Getting Down to Business. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chesbrough, H. 2020. To recover faster from Covid-19, open up: Managerial implications from an open innovation perspective. Industrial Marketing Management.

Du, J., Leten, B., & Vanhaverbeke, W. 2014. Managing open innovation projects with science-based and market-based partners. Research Policy, 43(5): 828-840.

George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. 2016. Understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6): 1880-1895.

Granstrand, O., & Holgersson, M. 2020. Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition. Technovation, 90-91: 1-12.

Hilgers, D., & Ihl, C. 2010. Citizensourcing: Applying the concept of open innovation to the public sector. International Journal of Public Participation, 4(1): 67-88.

Holgersson, M., Granstrand, O., & Bogers, M. 2018. The evolution of intellectual property strategy in innovation ecosystems: Uncovering complementary and substitute appropriability regimes. Long Range Planning, 51(2): 303-319.

Laursen, K., & Salter, A. 2006. Open for innovation: The role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 27(2): 131-150.

Kohler, T., & Chesbrough, H. 2019. From collaborative community to competitive market: The quest to build a crowdsourcing platform for social innovation. R&D Management, 49(3): 356-368.

Radziwon, A. and Bogers, M., 2019. Open innovation in SMEs: Exploring inter-organizational relationships in an ecosystem. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146: 573-587.

Randhawa, K., Wilden, R., & West, J. 2019. Crowdsourcing without profit: the role of the seeker in open social innovation. R&D Management, 49(3): 298-317.

Saebi, T., & Foss, N. J. 2015. Business models for open innovation: Matching heterogeneous open innovation strategies with business model dimensions. European Management Journal, 33(3): 201-213.

Wenzel, M., Stanske, S., & Lieberman, M. B. (2020). Strategic responses to crisis. Strategic Management Journal.

Zobel, A. K. 2017. Benefiting from open innovation: A multidimensional model of absorptive capacity. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 34(3): 269-288.

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Marcel Bogers
Full Professor
University of Copenhagen
Denmark
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