Step 3

Companies that make full use of Open Innovation systems to exploit their intellectual property via other companies where appropriate.

Step 2

Companies that demonstrate some components of Open Innovation but have yet to develop a strategic approach to its management.

Step 1

Companies that are aware of Open Innovation but have not yet developed a way to exploit their intellectual property via external customers when appropriate.

Step 0

Companies that do not recognise Open Innovation and do not consider external customers as an option for exploiting their intellectual property.

To try out this tool on your own company, proceed as follows:

1. Consider the sets of statements shown below.

2. With each set, click on the one which best describes your company.

3. Finally, click on the 'Calculate Position' button at the bottom of the page.

Note: The calculation will only work if your browser can handle JavaScript

We review all projects regularly to ensure that benefits outweigh the remaining costs

We expect to incorporate regular economic and technical reviews into our plans

We are reluctant to stop projects with poor prospects after investing large sums

We only tend to undertake project reviews when the funding is running out

We never invest in any development without a detailed understanding of the market

When targeting unfamiliar sectors, we make special efforts to understand the market

We develop an understanding of the market alongside any technology development

Our focus is always on understanding the technology rather than the market

We make sure our ideas are fully protected before approaching any potential buyers

We use NDAs and the possibility of patent coverage to protect our innovations

We don’t expect to be able to patent our ideas but hope to protect our know-how

We have no mechanisms in place for protecting our innovations and/or know-how

We talk to potential users regularly to make sure that our innovations fit their needs

We have made a few efforts to understand the specific needs of potential users

We have not contacted potential users but believe that we understand their needs

We make no special effort to understand the specific needs of potential users

We are committed participants in several active technology networks

Part of our strategy is to increase participation in key technology networks

Some individuals are involved with a technology network on an ad hoc basis

Our company has had no participation in any technology networks

We are very active in several networks that could help us reach potential buyers

We are starting to participate in networks that could help us reach potential buyers

We will consider participation in networks as a way to reach potential buyers

We haven’t considered any participation in sector or investment networks

We are using intermediaries to help us find potential buyers for our innovations

We are starting to work with intermediaries that could help us exploit our innovations

We have very limited contact with intermediaries that could help us exploit our ideas

We have not considered using intermediaries to help us find buyers for our ideas

We always use external advisors when we lack expertise on important issues

We sometimes use external advisors when we lack expertise on important issues

We would consider using an external advisor if we lacked specific expertise

We never use any external advisors, preferring to rely on our in-house expertise

We thoroughly review all options before deciding how to exploit our innovations

We are introducing procedures for deciding how best to exploit our innovations

We don’t know how to select best business model for exploiting an innovation

We will only consider in house routes for exploiting our innovations

We obtain a wide variety of inputs to judge the commercial value of our innovations

We are investigating the best way to assess the value of our innovations

We judge the value of our innovations from our expenditure and a suitable margin

We rely on the view of the selected buyer to judge the value of our innovations

We decide the best time to exploit our innovations by undertaking regular reviews

We market our innovations as soon as they have reached ‘proof of concept’ status

We market our product innovations as soon as possible after patenting

We are not sure what would be the best time to market our innovations

We use a proven system for screening and evaluating development opportunities

We are trying to introduce new systems for screening and evaluating opportunities

We evaluate potential development opportunities on an ad hoc basis

We have no systematic way for screening or evaluating development opportunities

We study and compare all existing and new competitors to our product innovations

We compare our innovations against competitive products in the marketplace

We only develop innovations that are thought to offer price or performance benefits

We rely on the fact that our innovations incorporate more advanced technology

We make strong efforts to understand the market characteristics and its participants

We always study the size of the target market for our ideas and its growth prospects

We usually spend some time trying to understand the market for our innovations

We devote little effort trying to understand the market for our product innovations

Our staff have all the business skills needed to develop and exploit our innovations

We have access to people with the skills needed to develop and exploit our ideas

We are building up the additional skills needed to develop and exploit our ideas

We are a technology-specialised organisation with limited business skills

We use every possible means to ensure that prospective buyers learn of our ideas

We try to focus our efforts on direct contacts with a few prospective buyers

We try to raise awareness of our innovations through traditional advertising

We make no special effort to promote our innovations to potential users and buyers

We fully investigate the integrity of potential partners before making commitments

We make discrete enquiries about potential partners before making any commitment

We rely on the public profile of potential partners when assessing their suitability

We believe the interests of ourselves and any potential partners will always coincide

We have processes in place to ensure the transfer of essential knowledge to buyers

We are developing processes to ensure effective knowledge transfer to buyers

Processes for transferring knowledge to buyers will be established for each project

We have no processes in place to transfer knowledge of our innovations to buyers

Our reward systems include major incentives for staff to encourage Open Innovation

We are introducing incentives for our staff to encourage Open Innovation

We are not sure how to encourage our staff to adopt Open Innovation

We have no incentives in place to encourage Open Innovation practices