Pushing Firm Boundaries through Research and Open Innovation

In this paper we will exemplify open innovation through a university-industry collaboration called Mobile Home Center (MHC). We will demonstrate how the model by Chesbrough can be used as a tool for mapping out a research process and furthermore illustrate what kind of outcast such project can provide into the company and bring forward the effect it has inside a company when performing open innovation together with research partners. We seek to bring forward how performing university-research collaboration can also change the practices inside a company and thus push the firm boundaries in new directions. Rather than looking at the firm as something static we will demonstrate how Chesbrough’s model on Open Innovation can be used to illustrate the dynamics of a company’s boundaries through Open Innovation.