Open Innovation Approach: sharing of initiatives, methods and experiences

A round table on open innovation was held on wednesday October 10th at Kore University in Enna. The meeting was part of the launch conference of the Interregional Key Networking for Open innovation empoWerment (I KNOW) project.

After a brief introduction of the project by Sebastiano Di Stefano (Project Manager) and the presentation of seminars on “Entrepreneurship” by prof. Raffaele Scuderi (Kore University), prof. Andrea Cirà (University of Messina) and prof. Russell Smith (University of Malta), an interesting debate has been animated about initiatives, methods and experiences on open innovation approach.

Main speakers of the events have been academics and professionals highly experienced on innovation, start-ups, market and SMEs competitiveness, funding, quality of life, circular economy and environment.

Prof. Rosario Faraci, full professor in management at the University of Catania, introduced the topic of open innovation in a orginal way starting from Henry Chesbrough’s definition “Open Innovation is 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 the firms look to advance their technology. Open Innovation combines internal and external ideas into architectures and systems whose requirements are defined by a business model”.

Prof. Sandro Montresor, full professor in economic policy at the Kore University of Enna, clarified the concept of eco-innovation as any innovation resulting in significant progress on sustainability by reducing the impacts of production modes on the environment, enhancing nature’s resilience, or achieving a more efficient and responsible use of natural resources.

Marco Pierotti introduced the experience of Cogentech, a private limited company whose mission is to provide technological services for the post-genomic era to researchers and clinicians. Pierotti stressed the specific relationship between Cogentech’s services and the international scientific community and clinicians who wish to use them for diagnostic purposes.

At the end Emanuele Spampinato introduced the digital ecosystem of Etna Hitech (EHT) a consortium of SME devoted to boost entrepreneurial initiatives on ICT field.

The round table was moderated by prof. Vincenzo Fasone (Kore University).

The meeting was attended by a numerous group of under graduate, graduate and PhD students. Remarkable also the partecipation of small entrepreneurs and startuppers.

Author: Prof. Vincenzo Fasone, Kore University of Enna