An open approach to develop green innovation. A case study analysis

Green innovations can be considered as new or modified processes, techniques, systems and products to avoid or reduce environmental damage. The majority of the studies on these innovations focus the attention on technologies promoted by public policy and developed in a firms' conventional R&D department. On the contrary, the literature on the so-called open innovation" mode is proliferating and despite the interesting insights, it mainly relates to "standard" innovations and green innovations are regarded only to a minor extent. The central idea underlying the concept of openness is that a single organization cannot innovate in isolation but it rather engages-with different types of partners- to acquire ideas and resources. Despite the interest on green innovations is on the rise, research on this field is still fragmented, especially with regard to the open innovation mode of their generation. This paper aims at filling this gap in the literature, providing a case study analysis of the green innovation developed by adopting the open innovation paradigm