How do you manage intellectual property rights in open innovation projects?

Moreover, before starting a collaboration you need to have clearly defined ‘why’ you should collaborate. It’s all about being complementary. Complementary in technology, innovation, value chain positioning, markets,…

After you understand (and have documented) your own goals and needs (and wants) - including minimum objectives, stretch goals, and potential tertiary but beneficial (or problematic) outcomes - the next step listed below is choosing the right partners. However, even before you begin the identification and vetting process for partners, it is important to take a moment and assess and compare the different options you may have. Perhaps a collaboration on an open innovation project makes sense - but what are the alternatives and other options? How do the pros and cons compare to an internal, closed innovation project, or even to the status quo. Only once you've determined that open innovation is best suited for your goals do you continue.

Most important is to detail the background of the 2 partners, agree on how to use it for your collaboration; then, to draft how the foreground is going to be shared

While minor, it can also be important to pay attention to the jurisdiction or other limits or context that your collaboration partner(s) may be subject to. Keep in mind that not only are IP rights defined by jurisdiction - and not all jurisdictions are even close to being the same in how they treat various types of IP - but other factors may also come into play, such as special rules about privacy or about anti-money laundering, etc.

I agree with the statements made. One of the best ways to consistently clarify roles and responsibilities is by hiring a project manager to assist in the planning. Project/ program managers can assist in assigning tasks and holding all parties accountable through the process of open innovation and development.

And don't forget to consider the possibility of creating new IP outside the scope of your - and your collaborators' - immediate projections or suppositions. The best agreements cover unknown and unforeseeable circumstances, as well as deal with markets and developments that may not have been anticipated. It is especially important to be explicit about assignments (whether allowed or not and under what circumstances), royalties (and their split where appropriate), and sharing or division of costs and fees.

In my experience the upfront planning is most important. This is truly a fail to plan and you plan to fail. There is usually a driving party, the one who is imitating the innovation and essentially knows what they want to achieve. The planning

Monitoring and evaluation are the processes that allow policy- makers and programme managers to assess: how an intervention evolves over time (monitoring); how effectively a programme was implemented and whether there are gaps between the planned and achieved results (evaluation); and whether the changes in well-being are due to the programme and to the programme alone (impact evaluation). Monitoring is a continuous process of collecting and analysing information about a programme, and comparing actual against planned results in order to judge how well the intervention is being implemented. It uses the data generated by the programme itself and it makes comparisons across individuals, types of programmes and geographical locations.

This means you must plan for - and ascribe resources for - this future management, monitoring, evaluation and assessment. It is better to 'over' plan than face unplanned costs and expenses.

And where appropriate or necessary, don't underestimate the importance of political and geopolitical influences and restrictions. These collaborations often span political and cultural lines, and accounting for this well increases the chances of success and value of the results.