Open innovation: status quo and quo vadis - an analysis of a research field

Open innovation is now a widely used concept in academia, industry, and policy-making. According to the recent report “The Open Innovation Barometer”, released by the Economist, 90% of organizations have either adopted or are planning to implement key open innovation practices by opening up their organizational boundaries to collaborative innovation in the next three years (The Economist Group 2022). However, the social and economic changes imposed by the emerging processes of transition towards a more digital and sustainable society raise questions on how the open innovation field of studies is evolving to meet new, emerging needs. By combining bibliometric techniques and content analysis, this study illustrates how this research community has evolved in the last 12 years. More specifically, this study provides a descriptive analysis of the literature on open innovation, defines its knowledge structure, and illustrates a representative picture of the theoretical landscape. Our analysis shows that attempts to consolidate established topics and theoretical approaches in this field of studies go hand in hand with the emergence of new conversations about unexplored dimensions of open innovation. We conclude this article by outlining some avenues for future research on how to conceptualize, theorize, and research (methods and analytical techniques) open innovation.

Open innovation in the face of the COVID‐19 grand challenge: insights from the Pan‐European hackathon ‘EUvsVirus’

Being a grand challenge of global scale, the COVID‐19 pandemic requires collective and collaborative efforts from a variety of actors to enable the expected scientific advancement and technological progress. To achieve such an open innovation approach, several initiatives have been launched in order to leverage potential distributed knowledge sources that go beyond those available to any single organization. A particular tool that has gained some momentum during COVID‐19 times is hackathons, which have been used to unleash the innovation potential of individuals who voluntarily came together, for a relatively short period of time, with the aim to solve specific problems. In this paper, we describe and analyze the case of the hackathon EUvsVirus, led by the European Innovation Council. EUvs Virus was a 3‐day online hackathon to connect civil society, innovators, partners, and investors across Europe and beyond in order to develop innovative solutions to coronavirus‐related challenges. We have identified four dimensions to explore hackathons as a crowdsourcing tool for practicing effective open innovation in the face of COVID‐19: broad scope, participatory architecture, online setting, and community creation. We discuss how these four elements can play a strategic role in the face of grand challenges, which require, as in the case of the COVID‐19 pandemic, both urgent action and long‐term thinking. Our case analysis also suggests the need to look beyond the ‘usual suspects’, through knowledge recombination with atypical resources (e.g., retired experts, graduate students, and the general public). On this basis, we call for a broader perspective on open innovation, to be extended beyond openness across organizational boundaries, and to explore the role of openness at societal level.

Absence of gene mutations in a case of concomitant presence of carcinoid of the ampulla of vater pheochromocytoma and Von Recklinghausen disease

The rare association between Von Recklin-ghausen's disease (VRD) and tumours other than in central nervous system is well recognized. However, the concomitance of VRD, a carcinoid of the ampulla of Vater, and a pheochromocytoma has been described very rarely in literature. Furthermore, the possible role of the genes usually involved in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes, in this association, is unclear. We report the case of a patient affected by VRD and extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma, operated on in the past for a carcinoid of the ampulla of Vater. To determine if genes involved in MEN syndromes might play a role in this particular triad, we investigated the presence of somatic or germline mutations in the RET proto-oncogene and menin gene by non isotopic polymerase chain reaction single stranded conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and heteroduplex gel electro-phoresis. The results demonstrated that no somatic or germline mutations in the MEN-1 and MEN-2 genes were involved in the pathogenesis of these tumours.

Malignant colonic obstruction managed by endoscopic stent decompression followed by laparoscopic resections

BACKGROUND

Acute left-side colonic obstruction is a surgical emergency whose management is controversial. Recently metallic expandable stents have been used to relieve obstruction either to palliate the condition or to prepare for an elective surgical resection.

METHODS

We propose a new minimally invasive therapeutic strategy for the management of malignant colonic obstructions: emergency endoscopic stenting followed by elective laparoscopic one-stage resection. The first four cases are presented.

RESULTS

The stents were positioned successfully in all cases, and all the patients had an immediate restoration of bowel functions. After a period that varied from 4 to 5 days, they underwent a one-stage laparoscopic resection and were discharged 5 to 7 days after the operation. There were no postoperative complications.

CONCLUSIONS

Malignant colonic obstruction can be managed by a sequential minimally invasive endolaparoscopic approach with an excellent postoperative outcome, good patient comfort, and a short hospital stay without the need for diverting stomas. A study involving a larger number of patients is needed to determine whether this approach is superior to traditional open surgery in terms of morbidity, mortality, quality of life, and recurrences.

[Ultrasound in trauma (FAST)]

During last 20 years ultrasonography has been widely used in Europe to investigate abdominal trauma. In United States it has not been considered a reliable test especially because of its lack of sensitivity in diagnosing parenchymal injuries. Recently American surgeons reconsidered ultrasonography in trauma and codified its use into FAST (Focused Assessment for the Sonographic examination of the Trauma patients). The goal is to detect hemoperitoneum and pericardial effusion. Advantages are remarkable: ultrasound is cost-effective, fast, non-invasive, can be performed by surgeons even on unstable patients. FAST is now included in ATLS framework for examination of thoraco-abdominal trauma.