Open Research as a foundation of innovation

Open research (OR) refers to whether research ideas, methods, data and knowledge are performed and shared following principles of transparency, openness, verification, and reproducibility. The Open University (OU) has been a pioneer in using OR as a foundation of academic innovation in many areas. These include projects such as the Pelagios Network and the use of OR approach to encouraging people to age well as well as development of cutting edge infrastructure such as the Open STEM Labs and OpenLearn.

Maximising economic impact through Open Research

Of course, OR is not only about academic innovation through sharing and access; it is also about participation, ensuring new knowledge is co-produced to maximise economic impact. The principles of OR are important features of open and inclusive innovation (Smart et al, 2019; Papaioannou, 2014; Chesbrough, 2003). They are crucial for enabling inclusive collaborative relations between innovators, regulators and publics for which findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) data constitute pathways to new technological products and processes. (Miedena, 2022). At the same time, these relations are socially responsible in the sense that they improve public value (e.g. increases in GDP, employment, etc) integrity, reuse, and innovation, promoting the common good.  

Collaborating through Open Research

In the UK OR has been used to promote university-industry collaboration (Smart et al, 2019) and hence, it is integral to governments’ mission to deliver economic and social and environmental benefits. According to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI, 2024), accessible, transparent, reproducible, and cooperative research underpins quality and efficiency in the knowledge generation process. In addition, it ensures research outputs are readily shared and therefore, strict intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as copyrights and patents cease to be barriers to knowledge exchange and collaboration. Despite some trade-offs (e.g. openness versus security) OR appears to be particularly crucial for collaboration between open scientific teams, startups, research and development (R&D), companies, and venture capital firms, creating functional innovation ecosystems.

Leading to the creation of innovation ecosystems

The metaphor of ecosystems here emphasises the adaptive capabilities of actors involved in interactive learning and innovation. These actors include universities, startups, venture capital firms, governments, etc. According to Adner (2017) innovation ecosystems are ‘… the alignment structure of the multilateral set of partners that need to interact in order for a focal value proposition to materialize’. Indeed, for innovation to emerge there is a need for sharing knowledge and information (Kaur, 2019; Manniche and Testa, 2018; Carayannis and Campbell, 2009). An innovation ecosystem considers the research and innovation environment to be a mutually interdependent system of collaboration that leads to the so-called mode 2 knowledge production (Gibbons et al., 1994; Gibbons, 2000).

Successful innovation ecosystems create new technological products by facilitating the unrestricted flow of knowledge and information, and by providing equal access to resources, which assist with business collaboration and innovation beyond one’s firm and industry (Klimas & Czakon, 2021). In turn, the knowledge flow and resource infrastructure serve as catalysts for opportunities to connect stakeholders with ideas for competitive advantage (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020; Robertson et al (2023).

Many leading UK universities, including the OU, have been actively involved in building such ecosystems to fulfil their third mission i.e., contribution to economic growth through knowledge spill overs, knowledge exchange and enterprise. They have also endorsed OR principles and practices to strengthen findability and accessibility of new knowledge and information.

In conclusion OR can be seen as a foundation of innovation for three main reasons: first, it promotes inclusive access to scientific knowledge; second; it facilitates collaboration between diverse actors, including innovators, regulators and publics; third, it enables the creation of innovation ecosystems in which universities play a central role.