Stakeholders of Open Innovation: Startups, Suppliers, and Customers

Who are the main stakeholders in open innovation?

When companies adopt open innovation, they move from a closed, inward-looking model to a networked approach built on external collaboration. In this network, three stakeholder groups tend to play a particularly strategic role: startups, suppliers, and customers. Startups offer agility, disruptive ideas, and novel business models that large organisations struggle to develop internally. Suppliers, especially long-standing industrial partners, bring decades of accumulated process and product expertise that can be mobilised for new solutions rather than only for execution. Customers, finally, are no longer seen only as buyers or sources of complaints; their expectations, behaviours, and creativity can directly shape which products or services are developed, and how quickly they reach market fit. Open innovation aims to weave these three actors into the company’s innovation system through structured collaboration models, instead of treating them as occasional or informal contributors.

How can companies collaborate effectively with startups?

Collaboration with startups can serve many purposes: reaching niche customer segments, leveraging alternative distribution channels, entering new geographies, accessing data you cannot collect alone, or increasing operational efficiency in areas where the corporation is slow. To design a useful partnership, the company should first clarify what it expects (new markets, technology, data, or speed), then identify startups whose value proposition aligns with those needs. In return, startups look for things they usually lack: access to industrial-scale production, deep market and regulatory knowledge, stable cash flow, and physical or digital infrastructure. Offering them the chance to run a Proof of Concept (PoC) inside your facilities, with real customers and real data, often creates more value than a small equity investment. The main challenge is the difference in speed: while corporate decision cycles of three to six months feel normal internally, for a cash-constrained startup they can be fatal. Deep-tech startups require the opposite mindset: here, corporates must be patient and accept that meaningful results may take years.

A robust startup strategy therefore combines multiple channels: participating in or co-designing incubator and accelerator programmes, attending or hosting demo days, hackathons, and startup competitions, engaging with angel networks, and regularly visiting entrepreneurial hubs in key regions. Online databases such as global or sector-specific startup platforms can help widen the radar, although they tend to prioritise ventures that already raised funding. Whatever the channel, companies should not approach startups with vague intentions. They need a clear value proposition—PoC access, market knowledge, distribution, or potential investment—and a simple decision path from first meeting to pilot, and from pilot to commercial agreement or strategic partnership. Mapping which competitors collaborate with which startups in which fields, using “entrepreneurship ecosystem maps”, helps refine priorities and avoid being outpaced in key domains.

In what ways can suppliers become innovation partners?

Suppliers are often overlooked as open innovation partners, even though many sectors have gradually shifted part of their R&D burden to the supply base. As digitalisation accelerates and product complexity rises, developing everything in-house becomes costly and slow. Instead, leading firms ask suppliers not only to manufacture components, but also to propose new materials, designs, or technologies that improve performance or reduce cost. To make this shift, companies increasingly launch supplier innovation programmes that combine training, process alignment, and selective incentives. They may require suppliers to adopt basic innovation management practices—such as idea pipelines, structured project selection, and simple portfolio reviews—mirroring the buyer’s own processes.

Some large manufacturers have also created dedicated supplier innovation platforms. On these online portals, the company describes strategic focus areas and invites suppliers to submit ideas or projects. Proposals are evaluated by R&D and technical experts; successful ones can result in the supplier becoming a preferred partner or entering a joint R&D project. Innovation contests specifically targeting current or potential suppliers, with the main “prize” being access to long-term business, are another tool. The strategic advantage is clear: rather than competing globally on the basis of its internal capabilities alone, the company competes with the combined intelligence of its entire supplier ecosystem. In this model, suppliers evolve from simple executors of specifications into proactive contributors who bring forward new concepts and help shape the product roadmap.

Why should customers be involved in co-creation?

The greatest risk in innovation is building something that customers do not want. Traditional market research—surveys, focus groups, or complaint analysis—helps, but often comes too late or captures only what customers can easily articulate. Open innovation with customers goes further by involving them directly in idea generation, design, and testing. Several global companies have demonstrated the power of this approach. In the toy industry, a well-known example is a community platform where enthusiasts submit new product ideas, vote for their favourites, and see the most popular ones move into production, with creators rewarded through royalty-like mechanisms. This reduces R&D costs, shortens time-to-market, and dramatically improves the odds of commercial success because products are vetted by the community before launch.

In consumer goods, beverage companies have deployed smart dispensing machines that let users blend numerous flavours and save their favourite combinations in a mobile app. The system records millions of choices across geographies, revealing hidden preferences that later inform which new drinks should be produced and where. In the beauty sector, digital-native brands have emerged from blogs and social platforms that gathered real-world feedback long before the first product launch. By building tight communities and treating customers as co-designers, these brands used social media not just for promotion, but as a live innovation lab. The lesson for any sector is simple: when customers are invited into the innovation process—through online platforms, customisation tools, beta tests, or community programmes—the company gains a continuous stream of insights, reduces launch risk, and strengthens loyalty.

Key takeaways

• Open innovation becomes powerful when startups, suppliers, and customers are treated as structured, long-term partners rather than incidental contacts.

• Startups bring speed, new technologies, and access to markets or      data, while corporates contribute production capacity, market knowledge, and credibility.

• Suppliers can be transformed into innovation partners through dedicated programmes, aligned processes, online platforms, and targeted incentives.

• Customers reduce market risk when they participate in idea generation, concept testing, and community-driven product selection.

• Ecosystem mapping, clear value propositions for each stakeholder, and fast, transparent decision paths are essential to turning open innovation from theory into measurable business impact.

FAQ

Are startups always the most important open innovation stakeholders?
Not necessarily. Startups are crucial, but in many industries suppliers and customers may have an equally strong impact, depending on your strategic priorities and innovation challenges.

How can we avoid overwhelming suppliers and customers with innovation requests?
Prioritise a few focus topics, design simple participation mechanisms, and communicate clearly what you expect and what participants will gain in return. Quality matters more than quantity.

Is it necessary to create online platforms for all stakeholders?
Not in every case, but digital tools greatly simplify idea submission, evaluation, and feedback loops. Start small with a basic portal or form and evolve as participation grows.

References

• OECD, Open Innovation in Global Networks, policy reports on innovation ecosystems.

• Harvard Business School, case studies on corporate–startup collaboration and co-creation.

• European Commission, publications on supplier innovation and customer involvement in R&D.