Part III Open Innovation Strategy of Firm
6 Real Contents and Channels of Open Innovation
6.2 Open Innovations of Fuel Cell SMEs
6.2.1 Contents and Channels of Open Innovation by YLJO
YLJO accumulated considerable technical skills in the control area focused on order production of automation facilities of door locking—in particular, the com-pany could accumulate a considerable degree of technical skills and knowledge in the production process of user customized automation facilities. As the orders and requirements from customers gradually increased, the skills accumulated by the company were also extended to the area of one-touch fitting (related to fuel, plumb-ing automation) and could manufacture stack holder, fuel cells, etc. This company developed its main products through outside-in open innovation in the process of meeting with requirements from users or customer companies located on the front side of the value chain. But in this process, the company owner’s long experience in electrical and electronic fields and aggressive intentions and efforts to obtain
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knowledge through specialized literature or external counseling acted as an impor-tant motive of open innovation. The CEO of this company, immediately sensing the necessity of continuous internalization of domestic and foreign advanced technical trends through systematic and continuous research collaboration with external spe-cialized institutions, focused on new areas of fuel cells and raised the necessity of policy support for the relevant open innovation program.
The process of obtaining knowledge in the fuel cell area of this company (YLJO) is a representative case of outside-in open innovation from customers. More specifi-cally, this company obtained considerable knowledge through informational exchange with university research teams in the process of producing. This inward open innovation is not fixed but shows diverse aspect of improvement and develop-ment of the technical skills in the fuel cell area of the company that are accumu-lated. In other words, although it was a one-sided relationship at the initial stage, the company was gradually able to produce final products through the processes of specification decision of ordered products, designing requested products, and finally the settlement of errors, after YLJO shared opinions and mutual discussions were conducted when an idea was suggested by the university research team. In other words, outside-in open innovation developed from simple order production to inter-active studies. This company is strengthening its expectations and preparation for open innovation through production of new products in the fuel cell area and the creation of new markets by developing further skills and knowledge accumulated in this way through collaborative research.
6.2.2 Contents and Channels of Open Innovation by DSN
Second, in the case of DSN, various multidimensional activities and efforts for spe-cific technological areas, i.e., outside-in open innovation for thermal spraying, are shown. In particular, this company is conducting more multidimensional outside-in open innovation through the accumulation of its own technical capabilities and improvement of internal research teams and research facilities. DSM is a company invested in by the Japanese and established as a company specialized in the thermal spraying business with POSCO (a large steel maker from South Korea) as its main customer. This company grew into the largest domestic company specialized in thermal spraying in the high heat area, additionally securing Hyundai Steel, Dongkuk Steel, Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, KEPCO, and Hansol Paper as its main customer companies. DSM now possesses six global original pat-ents in the thermal coating area as a result of expanding its research facilities and research teams.
By starting open innovation through the introduction of new technologies from Japan, DSM accumulated considerable technical skills in the thermal spraying area in the process of interacting with POSCO, its main customer company, and address-ing its requirements. However, as the customer company grew into a global com-pany, and as the technical requirements to DSM, the supplying comcom-pany, increased, DSM was faced with the necessity to possess far more advanced skills than the
6.2 Open Innovations of Fuel Cell SMEs
customer company. Accordingly, DSM accumulated technical skills by using vari-ous approaches of outside-in open innovation such as (1) dramatically strengthen-ing the capabilities of its internal research institute, (2) explorstrengthen-ing ways of technical cooperation for benchmarking foreign technologies, (3) introducing advanced tech-nologies, and 4) technical alliance. Specifically, in the case of advanced high-tech areas such as glass rolls and metal doughnut rolls, DSM decisively introduced tech-nologies on a royalty basis and has continuously obtained techtech-nologies through a technical alliance with Stock of Germany about SOFC-related information. In addi-tion, this company is making various efforts to improve its technical capabilities through cooperation with RIST in Pohang about ways of improving the thermal resistance and durability of thermal spraying related to separators. Further, it has been actively strengthening its efforts to secure technical capabilities through alli-ances with external research centers and industries such as through technical agree-ments of thermal spraying-related areas with TOCALO PTO of Japan since 1990.
DSM is also continuously making efforts to understand recent technical trends by participating in various domestic and foreign conferences related to thermal spray-ing. Through these efforts, it has become the core company of cooperative research related to thermal spraying for domestic industries including POSCO. Consequently, DSM is being treated as an important partner in technical cooperation by big enter-prises that have technical demand for thermal spraying in the fuel cell and solar energy area. It has already established a semiconductor-related thermal spraying company through spin-off that has become larger than the parent company.
Even in the case of DSM, which accumulated domestic top-class and world-class technologies in the thermal spraying area through active open innovation, this com-pany has encountered difficulty in finding cooperative partners in the coating and surface treatment area because of the lack of an open innovation arena where the company can interact with internal or external industries with the same or different lines of business. In addition, this company is faced with considerable difficulties due to the lack of a systematic open innovation network with external industries or research institutes, although thermal spraying skills are considered to be strongly needed also in the solar energy area, not only in the fuel cell area.
6.2.3 Contents and Channels of Open Innovation by OT
The third case is open innovation of OT which is a medium-sized firm in solar energy. Starting as a production company of vacuum equipment for sputtering, OT is advancing into the area of production of solar energy (solar cell)-related products.
This company is continuously securing new technologies and new knowledge through joint research with Kyungpook National University, Gumi Electronics and Information Technology Research Institute, and Nano Convergence Practical Application Center, and cooperative research with major research institutes outside of the region such as ETRI and Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, and through continuous monitoring of customers’ requirements and expectations. In addition, this company is in a strong position to secure new ideas and knowledge
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through monitoring of foreign original patents. Further, this company is trying to understand the trends of market change and technologies through participation in academic societies (display and solar cell-related societies).
This company took the opportunity to advance into the solar energy industry by acquiring information and ideas from customer companies. OT supplied doping equipment to a company, and when OT saw the company apply the equipment to single crystal solar cells, it saw the chance to improve its technical capability related to solar cells in the process of connection with the company. In other words, this company accumulated technologies in the process of coping with customers’
requirements and requests while producing customized products, and this allowed it to develop new products, a typical example of which is advancement into the solar cell industry.
We can summarize the real channels of open innovation by fuel cell SMEs. Most of all were the key open innovation channel (Table 6.1).
6.3 Open Innovation of SMEs in Medical Instruments