Innovation for the Web 2.0 Era

The article discusses the Web 2.0 software and open innovation. Open innovation enables companies to share the costs of research while capitalizing on the creativity they harness. Technologies such as service-oriented architectures and service delivery platforms (SDP) enable service providers to achieve open innovation. The SDP serves as a controlled environment for services coming from the network, IT, the Web, or other applications. It provides governance and policy control, while increasing transparency and improving the management of converged services whether they are internal services or applications, from third-party developers, or created by nontraditional developers. The latest SDP evolution uses a "RESTful gateway" that automates access to Web tools to help simplify the creation of new services, thereby enabling developers to immediately become more productive. Web 2.0 offers a powerful collection of capabilities for connecting and empowering individuals, communities, and enterprises; it\´s about taking open innovation to the nth degree. The author concluded that achieving open innovation\´s enormous potential benefits requires tenacity and conviction, but in the end it must prevail.