Open innovation in design-centric business environment: The Greater Bay Area perspective

Abstract

On February 2019, the Chinese government announced its plan to establish what it called the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The area is identified by its geographical location to include Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and seven other municipalities in Guangdong province. The goal is for the GBA to be developed into a world-class city cluster. Toward this goal, the GBA is to become a world center for innovation. This paper explores the potential of applying principles of open innovation in the GBA to support design-driven startups functioning in the Internet of Things (IoT) era.

The GBA has all the requisite elements to support an ecosystem of thriving innovation and an (IoT) application era. Both the open innovation approach and IoT application require a new way to look at business models—a look that focuses more on openness and collaboration between players in different industries. This includes both well-established players, like big corporations, and smaller players, like startups and individuals. This open model is based on an open value exchange of both knowledge and resources to serve everyone’s goals. Within the GBA, this model can be fitted with stronger collaboration between the cities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen.