San Francisco Seminar 2006
Day 3
Open Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Commercialization
Introduction and Context
The third day of the seminar shifted the focus from internal innovation processes to open innovation models and entrepreneurial value creation. Through presentations by Henry Chesbrough, Jerome Engel, and Erik Willums, participants gained insight into how ideas, knowledge, and capital flow through the Silicon Valley ecosystem—and how this interaction enables continuous innovation.
While Days 1 and 2 focused on innovation culture, technology, and customer insights, Day 3 explored how innovations actually become businesses, and how companies must learn to share, collaborate, and build partnerships in order to succeed.
Program Overview
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Day 3 – Monday, March 15, 2006
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Henry Chesbrough – Open Innovation – Principles and Practices
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Jerome Engel – Technology Entrepreneurship – Implementing Innovation through Entrepreneurial Teams
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Panel Discussion – Erik Willums et al. – Venture Capital, Commercialization, and Global Growth
Key Topics
Open Innovation – A Paradigm Shift
Henry Chesbrough of the University of California, Berkeley, introduced the concept of Open Innovation as a fundamental break from the traditional “closed” innovation model. He described how companies had previously kept the entire R&D process within their own walls, while modern innovation requires open collaboration between internal and external resources.
At the heart of Chesbrough’s message was the idea that good ideas can come from outside the organization, and that value creation takes place within ecosystems, not just within individual companies. He also emphasized the need to manage intellectual property strategically—not merely as protection, but as a currency for collaboration.
Engel presented case studies of student- and researcher-led projects that had developed into viable businesses. The key factor was the combination of academic insight, capital, and business expertise—a triad that later inspired many European innovation programs.
Technology-Based Entrepreneurship – From Idea to Market
Jerome Engel, Executive Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley, presented a practical approach to how technological innovations are commercialized through cross-functional teams.
He showed how entrepreneurship is a social phenomenon—not simply the result of individual talent, but of an environment that allows for experimentation, rapid iteration, and learning from failure.
Engel described “entrepreneurial teams” as the most important building block of the Silicon Valley ecosystem:
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They connect technology, markets, and capital.
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They move quickly, but with analytical discipline.
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They look beyond the product—and build scalable business models.
Venture Capital and Commercialization
In the panel discussion that followed, participants included Erik Willums, who drew connections between the experiences of Silicon Valley and the Nordic innovation model. He emphasized the difference in the role of capital—with U.S. investors more often contributing as active partners in development and strategy, rather than simply as financial owners.
The discussion addressed the dilemma between rapid growth and sustainable development, and how commercialization can take place without losing control of the original idea.
Case Studies
Open Innovation in Practice
Through several examples, Chesbrough showed how companies such as IBM, Intel, and Procter & Gamble use open innovation processes to accelerate product development.
Feeva (Banga)
A concrete example of early-stage innovation, where the goal was to commercialize technology related to Wi-Fi and the personalization of digital communication. Feeva illustrated how the business model and technology must evolve in parallel, and how market maturity is critical to success.
Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley
Engel presented case studies of student- and researcher-led projects that had developed into viable businesses. The key factor was the combination of academic insight, capital, and business expertise—a triad that later inspired many European innovation programs.
Reflections and Discussion:
The day was characterized by an open discussion about how Norway and the Nordic countries can learn from Silicon Valley without losing their own culture of trust and community. Several participants pointed out that open innovation in a Norwegian context must be built on collaboration and knowledge sharing rather than aggressive competition.
At the same time, it became clear that Norwegian companies need to become more comfortable with risk and experimentation, and that closer connections are needed between academia, business, and investors.
International Perspectives
The seminar showed how innovation systems vary across cultures. In the United States, initiative and speed are rewarded, while Europe and the Nordic countries place greater emphasis on quality and process. Both approaches have value—but the digital economy requires a hybrid model that integrates learning, openness, and access to capital.
Engel summarized it this way:
“Innovation thrives where ideas meet investors and institutions that believe in change.”
What We Took Home With Us
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Open innovation requires trust and clear agreements on ownership and sharing.
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Entrepreneurship is a team sport, not a solo endeavor.
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Capital must understand the idea—not just the numbers.
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Innovation policy should build bridges between research, markets, and capital.
Relevance Today
Two decades later, Open Innovation has become a central part of innovation policy in both the EU and Norway. Concepts such as innovation ecosystems, co-creation, and venture collaboration continue to reflect the ideas of Chesbrough and Engel.
At the same time, digitalization has made open innovation both an opportunity and a challenge, with data sharing and cross-sector collaboration becoming essential to sustainable value creation.
Peder Inge Furseth
Peder Inge Furseth was a key academic driving force behind the San Francisco seminars and played an important role in making the encounter with Silicon Valley relevant to Norwegian and European organizations. Through his role as a professor at BI Norwegian Business School and as academic director of the program, he helped participants place the presentations within a broader context—one in which technology, innovation, business development, and people had to be understood together.
In San Francisco, participants met entrepreneurs, researchers, technology leaders, and investors from some of the world’s most innovative environments. Furseth’s strength was his ability to connect these experiences with practical challenges and opportunities facing Norwegian organizations. He helped translate Silicon Valley’s ideas and ways of working into a
Nordic context where collaboration, trust, and long-term value creation play a central role.
Throughout the seminar series, he served as an important bridge between research, business, and technology. For many participants, he therefore became more than an academic leader—he was also a mentor who inspired them to think differently about innovation, digitalization, and commercialization.
Learn more about Peder Inge Furseth here
From Studies and Seminars to Today’s Knowledge Hub
The studies, seminars, and academic trips documented on this page form part of the knowledge base behind The Invisible Capital. Topics such as customers, technology, innovation, digitalization, and value creation have been part of this journey for several decades — while these fields have continued to evolve.
At The Invisible Capital, we continue exploring these questions through dedicated knowledge series. Here, earlier theory, research, and experience are connected with newer knowledge, emerging technologies, and today’s challenges facing people and organizations.
Innovation
Innovation is not just about new ideas. Value is created when knowledge, technology, and ideas are developed into products, services, processes, organizational forms, and business models that are actually put into use. The series on innovation traces the field from Schumpeter to modern innovation research and explores incremental, radical, disruptive, open, and user-driven innovation.
→ Explore the Innovation series
The Customer
The customer is not simply the recipient of what an organization produces. In a competitive market, the customer is a decisive factor in whether an organization actually succeeds in creating value. The series on the customer explores customer orientation, customer insight, customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty, trust, and the human interactions that shape the customer relationship.
→ Explore the Customer series
Value Creation
What does it really mean to create value — and who creates it? The Value Creation series moves from economic theory and influential thinkers to a broader understanding of how people, knowledge and skills, institutions, organizations, and the public sector contribute to value creation.
→ Explore the Value Creation series
Digitalization
Digitalization has evolved from individual technologies into a fundamental part of how organizations operate and create value. The Digitalization from A to Z series traces this evolution through the internet, the web, e-commerce, search, UX, social media, mobile, omnichannel, cloud, data, platforms, and digital transformation — leading up to today’s AI-first era.
→ Explore the Digitalization from A to Z series
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence represents the next chapter in the digital evolution. In our dedicated AI knowledge hub, we explore how artificial intelligence works, how AI finds and uses information, how it evaluates sources and websites, and what this development could mean for people, organizations, and value creation.
→ Explore the articles on Artificial Intelligence
Recommended Reading
How Breakthroughs Happen
Henry Chesbrough introduced the concept of “Open Innovation” and showed how modern innovation is created through collaboration, knowledge sharing, and open ecosystems. The book explains why organizations must collaborate with partners, entrepreneurs, customers, and research institutions to succeed with continuous innovation in a digital and global economy.
