Open Innovation Model in Military Environments: A Preliminary Case of Aerospace Challenges

Open Innovation (OI), primarily explored in the private sector, has been rooted in theory and practice for many years, demonstrating significant benefits in enhancing competitiveness, creating knowledge, and facilitating the rapid adoption of technologies in real-world settings. OI emphasizes the value of external collaborations, recognizing that diverse industries can converge on strategic points of mutual interest. However, OI has not been widely used in military environments, where protecting classified or confidential information is essential. Therefore in this paper, we present an OI model for military institutions to handle economic constraints and promote the generation of knowledge with technologies applied in defense. The model enables the integration of mission-critical knowledge through rapid prototyping exercises by creating OI ecosystems primarily composed of young researchers that include practices such as crowdsourcing, hackathons, and technological challenges. The model has been built based on three OI events already conducted by the Colombian Air Force (COLAF) and Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES). Our findings pinpoint crucial factors that accelerate the generation of knowledge, reaching a large number of young researchers who do not typically focus their investigations on defense technology, facilitating successful investments to meet critical military requirements.