Abstract

This case study focuses on how Huawei had developed and used Huawei Innovation Research Program (HIRP) as its open innovation platform, showing how the company has changed its role from a research fund provider to a research collaborator, bringing mutual benefits to university-enterprise research collaborations. The case features the challenges of managing open innovation projects, such as looking for suitable external research partners, keeping the research projects on track, and evaluating research outcomes. It also shows how Huawei has tackled the problems common to open innovation projects, including the Not-Invented-Here syndrome, intellectual property protection, industry-university communication difficulties and research output evaluation.

Learning Objectives

The case enables students to:

Understand the concept of open innovation, particularly its role in transforming a company from an industry follower to a leader;

Identify the challenges associated with open innovation; and

Recommend solutions to produce more cutting-edge technological innovation through university-enterprise research collaboration.