The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of open innovation and to develop insights on how Open Innovation can benefit young entrepreneurs who are in the process of creating their own start-up company. It discusses the reasons and motives of why young start-ups are encouraged to adopt open innovation practices. Moreover, the success factors and challenges that start-up face that implements open innovation practices are vital for all entrepreneurs to study as via open innovation start-ups can overcome the initial barriers that most start-ups face. This paper focusses on different dimensions of open innovation for young entrepreneurs – Start-ups and Open Innovation, Antecedents of Open Innovation, Success Factors and Challenges - and serves as an information guiding tool for young entrepreneurs to understand various notions of open innovation so they can adapt their business before an open innovation practice can be successfully implemented.
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Amsterdam Science Park (ASP) is a pearl in the crown of the Amsterdam knowledge economy, with its high-level research institutes (the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam, several institutes of the NWO, the Dutch national science organisation) and a growing number of knowledge-based companies that reside in the multi-tenant Matrix buildings at the park. At ASP, the number of examples of co-creation is steadily growing. Larger tech firms (including Bosch and ASML) have located there and engage in deep collaboration with university institutes. Many more companies have expressed interest in collaborating with researchers located at ASP, not only in order to gain access to promising talent, but also to more extensively involve university researchers in their R&D processes. Another trend is the growth of science-based start-ups, now hosted at ASP’s Start-up Village: an appealing hotspot, made of sea containers. Players from business and university signal a rising need for new and more integrated concepts that facilitate collaborations between larger firms, start-ups and research groups. And also, the ASP management would like to see more co-creation. From its spatial and organisational design, the park is however characterised by a separation of activities: each faculty and institute operates its own building and facilities, with the firms hosted in the multitenant Matrix buildings. ASP is being developed along the lines of a masterplan based on strict zoning (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2013). This study explores how, and under what conditions further co-creation could be facilitated at ASP.
Teamwerk staat de laatste tijd weer in de belangstelling. Het is niet voor niets dat er recent 2 leuke publicaties over zijn verschenen Een goed team kan elk project aan en een slecht team kan elk project verprutsen. We weten dat een goede start een belangrijke voorwaarde is. Desgevraagd geeft een groot aantal mensen ook aan ervaring te hebben met een projectstartup (PSU). Maar als je doorvraagt dan zijn dat toch vaak hele mechanistische bijeenkomsten die net de plank misslaan. Een team is: 30 mensen die elkaar niet kennen, 15 in de keet van de opdrachtgever en 15 in de keet van de bouwer en gaan met die banaan. Een slechte start leidt tot een minder presterend team en dus tot een matig project. Hoe complexer het project en hoe meer je met elkaar te maken hebt (zoals in D&C); hoe belangrijker teamwork is. Waarom is een projectstartup zo belangrijk en hoe pak je dat aan?
Size measurement plays an essential role for micro-/nanoparticle characterization and property evaluation. Due to high costs, complex operation or resolution limit, conventional characterization techniques cannot satisfy the growing demand of routine size measurements in various industry sectors and research departments, e.g., pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials and food industry etc. Together with start-up SeeNano and other partners, we will develop a portable compact device to measure particle size based on particle-impact electrochemical sensing technology. The main task in this project is to extend the measurement range for particles with diameters ranging from 20 nm to 20 um and to validate this technology with realistic samples from various application areas. In this project a new electrode chip will be designed and fabricated. It will result in a workable prototype including new UMEs (ultra-micro electrode), showing that particle sizing can be achieved on a compact portable device with full measuring range. Following experimental testing with calibrated particles, a reliable calibration model will be built up for full range measurement. In a further step, samples from partners or potential customers will be tested on the device to evaluate the application feasibility. The results will be validated by high-resolution and mainstream sizing techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Coulter counter.
The denim industry faces many complex sustainability challenges and has been especially criticized for its polluting and hazardous production practices. Reducing resource use of water, chemicals and energy and changing denim production practices calls for collaboration between various stakeholders, including competing denim brands. There is great benefit in combining denim brands’ resources and knowledge so that commonly defined standards and benchmarks are developed and realized on a scale that matters. Collaboration however, and especially between competitors, is highly complex and prone to fail. This project brings leading denim brands together to collectively take initial steps towards improving the ecological sustainability impact of denim production, particularly by establishing measurements, benchmarks and standards for resource use (e.g. chemicals, water, energy) and creating best practices for effective collaboration. The central research question of our project is: How do denim brands effectively collaborate together to create common, industry standards on resource use and benchmarks for improved ecological sustainability in denim production? To answer this question, we will use a mixed-method, action research approach. The project’s research setting is the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA), which has a strong denim cluster and is home to many international denim brands and start-ups.
