Open Alps

Open Innovation in Alpine SMEs
OPEN ALPS

The EU transnational cooperation programme for the Alps - Alpine Space - combines seven Alpine countries to work together and promote regional development in a sustainable way.

The priority objectives of the programme are:
- Competitiveness and Attractiveness
- Accessibility and Connectivity
- Environment and Risk Prevention

10 project partners from 6 countries (Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, France and Switzerland) are conducting a project “Open Innovation in Alpine SMEs”, which will improve the competitiveness and attractiveness of the Alpine Space.

Through this project innovation and entrepreneurship shall be encouraged, as well as research and innovation capacities of SMEs shall be strengthened. The project shall set up a transnational OI support service of OI hubs, a web-based OI management platforms with hundreds of innovation seekers and innovation solvers from SMEs and R&TD institutions as well as transnational OI innovation forums and OI labs.
This project will make a valuable contribution to the innovation policy in Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative Innovation Union.

What is Open Innovation?
“Open innovation is the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively.”1
It consists in the search and use of external knowledge to improve innovation within a company, as well as in the transfer of knowledge to other firms, in order to expand the market for the use of innovation.


1Joel West and Wim Vanhaverbeke; Oxford University Press, 2006