TY - JOUR T1 - Managing the Challenges of Becoming an Open Innovation Company: Experiences from Living Labs JF - Technology Innovation Management Review Y1 - 2011 A1 - Mika Westerlund A1 - Seppo Leminen KW - Innovation management KW - Living lab KW - Open innovation KW - User-driven AB - High-technology firms have paved the way for user-driven innovations, but now even traditional industries are becoming increasingly open. This shift is a great challenge for companies with instituted practices, policies, and customer relationships. In this article, we identify four distinct steps in becoming an open innovation company based on our recent research into firms’ experiences with living lab experiments in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. We describe these phases and illustrate the divergent roles that users play in each one. We conclude with a discussion on the differences between the management challenges of conventional development projects versus the open innovation model. For all firms that wish to become open innovators, we recommend that their managers promote an open organizational mindset and apply groupware that supports increased openness, because traditional project management tools are insufficient for open innovation. PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa VL - 1 UR - http://timreview.ca/article/489 IS - 1 U1 - University of California Berkeley and Aalto University Mika Westerlund, D. Sc. (Econ.), holds positions as Postdoctoral Scholar in the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley and Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Economics at Aalto University. Mika earned his doctoral degree in Marketing from the Helsinki School of Economics. His doctoral research focused on software firms’ business models and his current research interests include open innovation, business strategy, and management models in high-tech and service-intensive industries. Results from his research are reported in numerous scholarly journals. U2 - Laurea University and Aalto University Seppo Leminen, D. Sc. (Econ.), Lic. Tech., holds positions as Principal Lecturer at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the School of Economics at Aalto University. Seppo holds a doctoral degree in Marketing from the Hanken School of Economics and a licentiate degree in Information Technology at the Helsinki University of Technology. His research and consultation interests include value co-creation and capture with users as well as relationships, services, and business models in marketing. He runs various living lab and business model projects in ICT and media industries. ER -