Closed versus Open Innovation: Evolution or Combination?

The concept of open innovation has attracted great interest from the academic and industrial sectors alike. Despite the ongoing debate, we can see some lack of consistency of its principles. The purpose of this paper is to set out a conceptual reflection on the foundations of innovation and its process and discuss new proposals from the literature on open innovation. We question whether this concept is really a new model, or if it is nothing more than a recent combination, sponsored by academics. We have examined Chesbrough’s six principles of open innovation, showing how they are based on a false dichotomy that opposes necessarily closed innovation to open innovation. We show how this new paradigm lacks conceptual clarity confusing innovation with innovation process, resurrecting the linear view, and ignoring many earlier studies. We hope to contribute to the discussion on innovation management and to enrich understanding for all concerned.