Contextual Intellectual Property Risk Management in Open Innovation for Software Companies

Open innovation (OI) is increasingly being recognized as a sustainable approach to fostering organizational growth and inter-organizational collaboration. In this context, safeguarding intellectual property (IP) is critical to ensuring the success of organizations engaged in OI. To develop effective IP- management strategies that adequately protect the IP that arises from OI activities, organizations must routinely evaluate IP-related risks. Studies reveal that the nature and extent of these risks vary significantly across organizational types, ranging from small, medium, and large enterprises to micro enterprises and start-ups. This research work puts forward tailored policies to manage IP effectively in software firms that participate in OI. To formulate these contextual policies, a survey was conducted, which involved more than 250 Fintechs in India, and represented various organizational segments. This research work utilized the open innovation intellectual property risk assessment tool to measure the IP risk score of these firms. The tool calculates the open innovation intellectual property risk score (OIIPRS), which categorizes companies into different levels of risk maturity as defined by the OI IP risk maturity model (OIIPRMM). This research work further employed qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine the factors influencing IP risks and their respective OIIPRS. Based on these insights, contextual IP-management policies were defined for various organizational segments. Software firms engaged in OI can adopt these tailored policies to mitigate their IP risks. Moreover, these policies serve as actionable guidelines for organizational management, which can be refined further to align with their specific IP-risk management requirements.