Open Innovation

1Innovation: a Story Without an End

While writing these lines, I repeatedly wondered about the wisdom of including this first chapter in the book. It may seem in some ways, due to certain theoretical aspects, to be an academic approach. In fact, it is nothing of the sort. This book is intended for the widest audience, academics as well as practitioners. Nevertheless, I want to express things in depth, that is, without amateurism or vulgarization which is insulting to the intelligence, while remaining accessible to all those who, for want of time or inclination, are removed from academic matters. The reverse is also true. Those among you who are academics will doubtless find herein elements stemming from the experiences of managers in business. I have not wanted to take short-cuts, but, on the contrary, to fully reveal to you my path. This is a delicate approach to introduce my subject, CI, which can divide itself and you will understand that my aim is rather to gather it together.

MI and OI are two notions which I seek to characterize in this chapter, so as to allow you to take your first steps into the mysteries of CI. It is difficult to conceive of this Trojan horse without raising the question of the fundamental materials allowing it to be imagined and built. I am afraid that the Greeks would not have been able to build the Trojan horse if they had not previously possessed knowledge about wood, and if a certain Greek (Odysseus) had not imagined it and if he were not helped ...