In this short article I would like to bring Exnovate, the highly interesting Network of Excellence on Open & Collaborative Innovation, to your attention. The driving forces behind this network are prof.dr. Wim Vanhaverbeke and prof. Henry Chesbrough (and other domain experts).
Back in 2008 I was fortunate to attend the fith European Masterclass on Corporate Entrepeneurship & Open Innovation with Henry Chesbrough & Kenneth Morse, where I first experienced the importance of the “business model”.
During the this Masterclass I was able to meet, experience and work with both professor VanHaverbeke and professor Henry Chesbrough. Both are the co-founders of Exnovate, as you can read in the about us section of the Exnovate website:
“Exnovate, the European Network of Excellence on Open & Collaborative Innovation, originated from the pioneering work of prof.dr. Wim Vanhaverbeke together with prof. Henry Chesbrough and other domain experts.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is Exnovate ??
The picture above shows an overview the Exnovate website, with the section “Exnovate in a nutshell” that provides a little more extensive description:
“Exnovate is a platform for companies and knowledge intensive organizations that are practicing open innovation. In particular, Exnovate serves as a clearinghouse and network platform, linking together the international community of companies, academia, governments and service providers. Since most knowledge and best practices on open & collaborative innovation are scattered around in different organizations, the platform can significantly speed up the learning process of the partners involved. In addition, Exnovate can help create and valorize knowledge on open & collaborative innovation, hence bridging the gap between theory and practice.”
On the left side of the website, below the Exnovate logo you can see a number of arrows, that provide additional information for a specific group of actors in the Open & Collaborative Innovation field:
- Companies;
- Acadamic World;
- Public Policy Makers;
- Service Providers;
- Venture Captial;
While VentureLab Twente is aimed at entrepreneurs in “assisting high-technology, high potential start-ups to develop and reach their full potential”, I can see similar concepts of connecting practitioners, researchers, experts and even venture capitalists. Exnovate however is focussed on the Open & Collaborative Innovation expertise.
Acadamic papers and network of innovators
Professor Frank Piller, who I was fortunate to meet during a masterclass @ Webster University in Amsterdam, wrote in the article “Exnovate and Open Innovation Forum: Two New Open Innovation Community Sites” on his Mass Customization & Open Innovation News blog:
I found three features especially useful:
- A list of case studies on open innovation for teaching;
- A list of academic papers on open innovation, most with a link to download
- A list of people working in the field;
Despite the fact that the list of academic papers isn’t completed yet (assumption since download links are missing), I really like this section and downloaded some papers that interested me. If you are interested in Open Innovation I can certainly recommend the academic paper list.
Concluding thoughts
I would like to recommend you to read the Exnovate vision, mission and strategy.
Such a European Network of Excellence on Open & Collaborative Innovation is highly valuable no matter if you are from a company, university, government, service provider or a venture captital firm. The amount of knowledge and experience on Open & Collaborative Innovation in such a Network of Excellence is tremendous !
I was able to meet and experience professor VanHaverbeke and professor Henry Chesbrough. Combining their drive and passion for Open & Collaborative Innovation with the high quality of the European Masterclass on Corporate Entrepeneurship & Open Innovation with Henry Chesbrough & Kenneth Morse, I can only conclude that the Exnovate Network of Excellence will be game-changing for many people out there !!
