Open Science: Connotation of Open Innovation and Its Mechanism for Innovation Ecology

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] Open science is shaping a new academic innovation ecology, aiming to promote open exchange and use of knowledge, emphasize open and cooperative research methods, and thus accelerate scientific innovation. Open innovation emphasizes the flow of knowledge across organizational boundaries. Both of them have obvious internal consistency and regard the free flow of knowledge as the driving factor of innovation. However, there are few studies on the relationship between open science and open innovation at present. They are often studied separately in the scientific research environment and the enterprise environment, ignoring the common role and integration of the two in the open innovation ecology. This paper aims to analyze the consistency of the connotation of open science and open innovation, study the mechanism of open science for innovation ecology, and provide reference for building an open science innovation ecology integrating open science and open innovation, as well as for developing open science governance for scientific and technological innovation. [Method/Process] First, based on the existing connotation of open science, this paper established the connotation analysis framework of "resource-process-subject-behavior" of open science, and put forward four key elements and principles of open science: "openness of scientific knowledge resources - transparency of research process - inclusiveness of participants - collaboration of research behavior". Then it de-constructed open innovation according to the connotation analysis framework of open science, and put forward four key elements of innovation knowledge resources, innovation process, innovation subject and innovation activities, as well as the principle of transparent and open innovation knowledge resources and innovation process, and value of co-creation based on the inclusiveness of innovation subject. Finally, according to the four principles of open science, the "Open Science Spectrum" was established to clarify the consistency and synergy of both sides from the perspective of openness. Besides, in order to understand the joint action mechanism of open science and open innovation in the innovation ecology, this paper analyzes the open science innovation mechanism in different innovation stages from the perspective of innovation process, including the open science mechanism in the open science research stage, the mechanism in the technology research and development stage, the citizen science mechanism in the social inclusion stage, and the responsible innovation mechanism covering the whole process of innovation. [Results/Conclusions] The innovation ecology of open science has come into being. Open science and open innovation have consistency in connotation and synergy in openness. Under the open science innovation ecology, open science plays a role in different stages of innovation. Explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge are open and flowing in different stages of innovation, accelerating open science innovation, open innovation, public innovation and responsible innovation. The inadequacy of this paper is that the relevant research is still at the theoretical level. For example, the spectrum of open science needs to be refined to an assessable and operable granularity, and the mechanism of open science for innovation ecology also needs more cases to verify. At the same time, based on this research, we need to further explore the governance mechanism of open science under the innovation system and the linkage strategy of science, industry, society and policy under the open innovation ecology.

Keywords

• open innovation|open science|innovation ecology|open sharing