The Categories of External Technology Sources in Open Innovation

This paper explores the categories of external technology sources in open innovation. The architecture of equipment products is complex, so external technologies are utilized in the innovation of equipment industry. To study the external technology sources in open innovation for equipment industry, the five sources commonly used are chosen as research objects, which are suppliers, users, competitors, universities and research institutes, R&D service companies. The field survey is conducted for open innovation projects, and the statistical data are collected. Based on this, the external technology sources are analyzed by descriptive statistics. The categories of technology sources are studied based on multidimensional analysis, the results show that these sources can be categorized into three types by technology supply form and technology export attitude. R&D service companies and universities and research institutes are one category, suppliers and clients are one category, and competitors are independently another one.