Open innovations and the role of hackathons

Abstract

The beginning of 21^st century marked a paradigm switch in regards to Research and Development (R&D) programs conducted in companies, internally. Generating new ideas and developing new products “behind closed doors” was considered “the right-way”, where companies could control product development from the idea to the point of commercialization. With the emergence of start-ups, this closed-innovation approach was replaced with open-innovation model. This model allowed companies to commercialize their ideas and outsource innovations from other firms, partners, individuals, etc. One popular way of outsourcing are hackathons. Hackathons have made a significant impact in the world of digital innovation – starting out as student indoor hang-outs to worldwide organized events. This study researches the topic of open innovation focusing on the role of hackathons. Main goal is to provide a comprehensive overview of the open innovation model and hackathons. Further, research will be focus on analyzing data and discussion about hackathon events that happened in the last decade at the Faculty of organizational sciences, University of Belgrade.