Introduction

Many people recognize that innovation is not just an imperative for economic and social progress but that it is an art and skill, which underpins progress and survival of the human species. We have all seen how industries such as the music and book industry, which existed relatively unchanged for decades, have been transformed through digital technologies. These changes have exemplified Schumpeter’s ‘creative disruption’ and Christensen’s ‘disruptive technologies’ where new players such as Amazon and Spotify have replaced incumbents such as HMV and Borders stores. As a global society, we are ready for the next stage of disruptive change as societal level systems such as those for smart cities, agriculture, energy, health, and transportation systems are set for digital disruption. Equally, many industries are ripe for digital disruption. The potential benefits are enormous and so also are the challenges. The innovations and changes which will be required to drive these transformations will require much collaboration and alignment across ecosystems and indeed society. The emerging paradigm of Open Innovation 2.0 (OI2) offers a series of design patterns to help innovators move efficiently and grasp this new opportunity of digital.