From talent spotting through to technology scouting and the development of special connections with main stakeholders, the benefits of open innovation are many, no matter the type of industry or how big or small your organisation.

While the idea goes back to the 60s, Henry Chesbrough, faculty director of the University of California’s Center for Open Innovation, coined the expression ‘open innovation’ in 2003. He defined it as ‘a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas, as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as firms look to advance their technology’.