From Internal R&D to Open Innovation: Why Collaboration Is Now a Competitive Necessity
For a long time, internal R&D was enough. Companies invested in their own laboratories and research centers, developed their technologies in-house, and brought them to market on their own schedule. That model hasn’t disappeared. But it’s no longer sufficient.
Technologies are now evolving faster than any single organization can keep up with alone. The required expertise is becoming increasingly specialized, while a significant portion of new knowledge is being created outside the company’s walls—within startups and scale-ups, specialized innovation structures, and agile entities connected to global ecosystems. Collaborating with these players is no longer an option. It has become a condition for remaining competitive.
Most major corporations have understood this. According to our latest Open Innovation Outlook study, more than four out of ten corporate innovation leaders plan to increase their Open Innovation budgets in 2026. However, investing more does not, in itself, guarantee better results.
From Intention to Practice
The problem rarely lies in the willingness to act. It lies more in the methodology. In our work with companies across Europe, the United States, and Asia, the same questions come up regularly:
- Where do you start?
- How do you identify the right startups?
- How do you take a pilot from concept to actual adoption, rather than letting it end up in a drawer?
- How do you engage employees beyond the dedicated innovation team?
- How do you move from a series of isolated experiments to a true strategy?
There is no single answer to these questions. But one thing has become clear through our experience: they are easier to solve when addressed collectively, with peers facing the same challenges.
A Club, Not a Training Course
This is precisely the idea behind the Open Innovation Club, a format that Mind the Bridge is already deploying in various ecosystems, including Tech Barcelona. The principle is simple: bring together a small group of companies to deepen their Open Innovation practices, share experiences, and build lasting peer relationships.
We chose the word “club” deliberately. This is not a traditional training session where an expert speaks and participants listen. It is a facilitated exchange space where companies can openly discuss what worked, what didn’t, and, most importantly, why.
Often, the highest value lies in the conversations between professionals who have experimented, sometimes failed, and then tried again.
A Three-Session Journey
The Open Innovation Club is now arriving in Tunisia with the support of Terna Innovation Zone Tunis. It is designed for Tunisian companies looking to structure or strengthen their open innovation approach. The program consists of three in-person sessions. Each follows the same logic: a brief framing of the topic, an open Q&A exchange, and a roundtable where participants can compare their own experiences and practices.
The journey is progressive and revolves around four main themes:
- The Fundamentals: Understanding what Open Innovation is, why it has become strategic, and what short-term benefits a company can expect.
- The Employees: Fostering an intrapreneurial culture and empowering teams to surface and develop their ideas.
- The Startups: Bridging the cultural gap between large enterprises and young companies, while learning to become an early adopter of their technologies—testing them and, when successful, becoming their client.
- The Long Term: Exploring options for companies looking to go further, from strategic investments to joint ventures and targeted integrations.
Why Tunisia?
Tunisia possesses several essential ingredients for Open Innovation: qualified talent, a developing startup ecosystem, and companies with the size, sectoral expertise, and market knowledge necessary to turn good ideas into concrete impact. What is sometimes missing is the connection between these different worlds. And above all, a shared methodology to make this collaboration work over the long term. This is precisely what the Open Innovation Club aims to help build.
The ambition is primarily practical: to allow participants to leave with a common language, concrete tools, a clearer vision of how Open Innovation can be integrated into their own organization, and a network of peers with whom to continue the conversation.
Open innovation is not just about finding the right startup. It is about creating the conditions for collaboration to work.
By Alberto Onetti, Chairman, Mind the Bridge
About Alberto Onetti
Alberto Onetti is the Chairman of Mind the Bridge and a professor at the University of Insubria. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded three startups during his career, including Funambol, one of the five Italian scale-ups that have raised the most capital. He is recognized as one of the leading international experts in open innovation and has extensive experience in designing and managing open innovation projects—including corporate venture client, venture building, intrapreneurship, and corporate venture capital—for major multinational corporations. He also serves as an advisor and trainer on these topics. Onetti regularly contributes to several specialized international media outlets.
