Dr. Henry Chesbrough has become a world-renowned authority on the topic of open innovation, a term that he is credited with inventing. He is Executive Director of the Program in Open Innovation at the Haas School of Business, UC, Berkeley, where he is also an adjunct professor. Dr. Chesbrough has travelled around the world to speak about open innovation and has provided governments, institutes and businesses models, strategies and consultation in the area of open innovation. Dr. Chesbrough has been a repeat invitee to the World Economic Forum, attending two forums in the past year.
In the summer of 2012 Dr. Chesbrough attended the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China. The forum brings together business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world. More than two thousand people attended the event, with delegations from Asia, Europe, South America and the United States. Of the numerous topics discussed, the concept of Open Innovation was closely examined. Innovation was given much emphasis, due to the growing concern over a declining Chinese economy. Dr. Chesbrough spoke on two panels, talking first to universities to encourage new innovative research opportunities, and secondly about shifting business models from traditional commodity-based to solution-oriented-based.
Dr. Chesbrough introduced the importance of open innovation and explained how corporations can all benefit from open innovation by leveraging external ideas and technology to reduce costs, as well as the importance of time spent in research and making unused innovations more accessible to external users. Dr. Chesbrough notes that in order to fully embrace open innovation, organizations need a change in mindset and an acceptance that we live in a world of abundant knowledge. Dr. Chesbrough also emphasized the importance of protecting the ideas and research of original investors, while being able to maximize the fruits of their knowledge in the economy.