Trends in Innovation

See this comment of Prof. Soumodip Sarkar about the new trends in innovation:

“For long, innovation has been considered the privilege of the few- those with resources to invest in traditional R&D.

However there are two important trends that should be pointed out.

First is that the erstwhile “poor giants” of China and India, are no longer content with producing goods and services low down the value chain, but are increasingly turning out to be innovation giants. What can we learn? How should EU firms react to this trend?  

The other factor is the increasing trend of smart companies to tap into the wisdom of the crowds. This trend towards open innovation is crucial to understand and adopt. What are the advantages? What are the risks? What should be the strategy that we should employ to pursue an “intelligent open strategy”?”

Please write your comments on the following:

1.    How can EU companies compete in such an environment?

2.    What should be the successful strategy in adopting open innovation? Examples?