Implementing open innovation: a case study in the renewable energy industry

This paper focuses on a relatively neglected aspect of the open innovation model, i.e., the anatomy of the organisational change process a firm goes through when it modifies its strategic approach to innovation from a closed to an open approach. By analysing the case of an Italian firm in the renewable energy industry, this paper illuminates the role of pilot projects in fostering this process of organisational change. For each stage of this organisational change process, the paper identifies the variables that should be taken into account to purposefully manage pilot projects as instruments to enable transition from closed to open innovation. The paper provides a discussion of these findings and outlines avenues for future research.