Maintaining your competitive edge in a world of open innovation
K. RintoulMinter Ellison Lawyers.
The APPEA Journal 52(2) 652-652 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ11066
Published: 2012
Abstract
Technology clearly plays an increasingly important role in upstream petroleum exploration and development. There is the need to visit more challenging places to access traditional reserves and consider unconventional sources; at the same time, there is the need to reduce energy consumption and emissions. Open innovation: the new imperative for creating and profiting from technology is a book written by Henry Chesbrough and published by Harvard Business Press in 2003. Since open innovation was coined by Chesbrough, it has gained traction, including in senior management teams in oil and gas companies.
This extended abstract describes what open innovation is and what it is not. Open innovation is sometimes wrongly believed to be open source, which is the way an entity deals with the output of its research and development efforts (for example, by putting it into the public domain subject only to limited restrictions). In contrast, open innovation refers to the use of external ideas (as well as internal ideas) to generate that output.
The benefits and challenges of open innovation and identification of issues for an entity to consider before engaging in open innovation are discussed. The focus is on the need to make early decisions about the approach to intellectual property (particularly confidential information and patents) to ensure it is harnessed, if appropriate, to provide a source of competitive advantage.
The PowerPoint presentation is not provided to APPEA.
Kate Rintoul is a special counsel in the corporate practice of Minter Ellison in Melbourne. She was introduced to the energy sector early in her career at Minters when she conducted commercial contracts due diligence on a number of projects, including for Singapore Power International in its successful bid to acquire the energy business of TXU Australia where she advised on gas supply agreements. She worked as IP counsel for Royal Dutch Shell plc at its headquarters in The Netherlands while on leave of absence from Minters from April 2008 to 2010. While at Shell, she was the primary legal advisor on numerous multi-million dollar, international-licencing deals, negotiating IP licence agreements with national oil companies and others seeking to use Shell technologies. In 2000 and 2001, she worked in Canada as a consultant to the University of British Columbia’s University-Industry Liaison Office (UILO) (again, on leave of absence from Minters). She has an LLB (hons), a BSc, and a master of intellectual property law from the University of Melbourne. In September 2011, she attended a course about competitive strategy at INSEAD in Singapore as an ME ambassador. Her areas of expertise include IP ownership and enforcement, research and IP commercialisation arrangements (including joint ventures), technology contracts (including software), IP and commercial contracts due diligence, energy industry contracts, and regulatory advice. |
