Cristian Hernandez-Cuevas is a member of the Investment Committee of Aurus Bios Venture Capital Fund.
Business Manager of Science Foundation for Life (www.cienciavida.cl). Between 2005 and 2007 served as Development Manager of Summit PLC, a biotechnology company listed on the London Stock Exchange and a global leader in chemical genomics and carbohydrate chemistry.
Previously, he served as an independent consultant to explore potential investment opportunities for Cambridge Enterprise Venture Capital Ltd and Lumora Ltd (England). He is a member of the Leaders Network of Chile, Section Editor of the Journal of Technology Management and Innovation, and founder and CEO of www.RedCiencia.org . Christian has a Master’s in Bioscience Enterprise at the University of Cambridge (2003) and Engineer in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Chile.
Good Morning Mr. Cristian Hernández-Cuevas
1. What do you think about open innovation? What aspects of Open Innovation would you highlight in connection with the classical model of innovation management, also known as closed innovation?
Open Innovation is a very persuasive concept, it can become a source of competitiveness for slow-moving organizations where it is frequent to see how innovative projects that are designed internally or inspired by external ideas, die because of lack of resources, lack of internal drive or because they do not fit with the evaluation criteria and project development culture that has been established as “the way we do things here” in the organization. Through an open innovation model a company can bring onboard more mature projects or ideas and take them to market through its established distribution channels. It can also incorporate new ideas, additional sources of capital, or it can provide an outlet for ideas, prototypes, technologies, licenses or even companies that do not fit well with the structure or objectives of the traditional project development pipeline within the organization. To sum up, open innovation allows more flexibility, which ultimately means that one can bet on different types of innovations without having to be forced to choose only to innovations that fit with the rigid structure required by the closed innovation model.
2. Open innovation is strongly being introduced in academia and the business world. Do you think that the future of knowledge transfer between businesses and research institutions is based in open innovation?
The most important knowledge transfer between Academia and Business remains the transfer of people who are educated at the university, which is then used in the industrial sector. A national or a country model of open innovation only exemplifies the ways to channel knowledge transfer. Some people are going to finish school and seek employment in industry straight away, others will start up a company and license out a technology from a university, the most knowledge driven professionals may go back to academia to teach what they have learnt. I think the future is based in highlighting the value added that academy can bring to the productive sector and vice-versa, the channels and models of interaction will appear in a natural way and will probably evolve in conjunction with the pace of new technological advances.
3. Do you think that researchers, universities and research organizations, are responding adequately to knowledge transfer through open innovation using the Internet and Web 2.0?
I believe the vast majority are just starting to get familiar with Web 2.0 tools. They are gradually incorporating them into its working atmosphere, as was the case of email, a tool that is commonly used today but that was not massively available 50 years ago. I have no doubt that in the future we will use Web 2.0 features for web-based collaborative work similar to those we currently use for recreation, in Facebook, for example. The latest Google’s development (Google Wave) confirms this point.
4. In your opinion, what aspects could be improved to further enhance this open culture in knowledge generation centers?
A key thing is to use or develop tools and services that deliver direct benefits to users of open innovation systems. In my experience, the benefits most valued in communities where users volunteer their time and work are: being part of something larger and transcendent, earning recognition or money, accessing to privileged information or information that is difficult to get, making good use of their skills, meeting other people with similar interests and advancing or accelerating their careers. Close relationships, trust and respect are the foundation elements of a sound culture for an open innovation environment; any technology or service that helps in this way will have a significant impact.
5. What role virtual intermediary/ brokerage platforms that are emerging in recent years should play? Do you think the scientific community is aware of the existence of these new tools that facilitate knowledge transfer between organizations? In your opinion, what mechanisms or pathways should be explored to make them known among researchers of universities and research centers?
Intermediary/ Brokerage platforms are doing a great job in helping you keep in touch with your colleagues or acquaintances. They are also being used to find researchers with whom contact has been lost. Especially for young researchers these intermediary platforms are considered very intuitive and familiar tools. The best way to make them known is through the users themselves, they are the ones that spread the word recommending these tools to their colleagues and friends. A good marketing campaign can help promote a platform more efficiently. One thing that we know it works well is to have face-to-face meetings among the participants of a network/community. The more concrete the interaction, the stronger the links/trust among the users and therefore, the better the results.
DDXTCWMC275H
