Open Innovation
Professional
Development Center
※Closed on July 31，2023

The center is a research team established within the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation (STIN) of Kobe University. The center is making research on people who are promoting open innovation at startups, SMEs, and large companies in order to make a theoretical framework for human resource development in an open innovation area.

Company which is looking for a growing business which might be its main one in ten years, has to pursue “Disruptive Innovation”. In order to realize it, it is necessary for a company to seek open innovation strategy by making partnerships with startups and academic institutions.

Open Innovation Professional Development Center was originally a part of human development group of “Compass to Healthy Life Research Complex Program”, national research project (external website ), and the center is still active after the program has ended.

In order to improve innovative capability of a company, top management should not only solicit ideas from their employees but also support them in order for the employees to work on the innovative projects for a long time of period. Otherwise, those companies cannot create a value in a market.

People who work on innovative projects by solving organizational issues which hinder commercialization process of new ideas, are “Innovation Leaders”. Our research goal is to clarify methods and organizational strategies to develop innovation leaders. Innovation leaders are different from bureaucratic managers who lead projects with predetermined schedule and budget.

We provide training programs which have the following purposes and can be modified based on the needs of the companies for which trainees work.

OZAKI Hiroyuki
Professor, Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University（Research Field：Entrepreneurship）

Open innovation theory is a theory built and promoted by Professor Henry Chesbrough of University of California, Berkeley. In his book, such companies as P&G and PHILIPS are introduced as pioneering open innovation companies.

In today’s world where artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) have become indispensable for innovation, the integration of hardware and software is becoming increasingly important for developing new businesses. Amidst this environment, opportunities for success are rising for Japanese companies whose R&D strengths lie in coordination and elimination of disagreement.

The works of Professor Chesbrough mainly focus on US companies and do not highlight coordination. We pursue research on open innovation leveraging the organizational strengths of Japanese companies and the professional development of people who will promote open innovation.

Open Innovation Professional Development Center
Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University
1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501 Japan
E-mail: stin-innovation-leader @lab.kobe-u.ac.jp