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Partner right. Innovate openly. De-risk smarter.

Date: 30 October 2025, 15:00 (Networking Coffee at 14:30)
Venue: KTU M-Lab, Studentų Str. 63A, Kaunas

On 30 October at 15:00, KTU will host an executive summit at M-Lab, Kaunas, featuring Prof. Henry Chesbrough, the originator of Open Innovation.

Gain strategic advantages and actionable insights at the summit:

Access a wider talent base. Your best minds will benefit from strong connections with experts outside your organisation.

Stay ahead of the market efficiently, without overspending. Discover how to leverage partner assets and de-risk innovation so that results appear on the P&L, not just in pilots.

 

Designed for business and institutional leaders eager to drive the development of new products and services while strengthening resilient competitiveness.

Register now
Summit agenda

What Open Innovation is

“Open Innovation is a distributed process where knowledge and expertise flow across organisational boundaries, guided by a company’s business model.”

  – Henry Chesbrough, originator of Open Innovation

Plain language

Rising relevance

Over the past two decades, this approach has gained significant attention.

In 2003, a Google search for it yielded around 200 results; by 2025, this had grown to roughly 2 billion – highlighting its widespread adoption and practical relevance.

OI is more

Open Innovation is no longer a slogan

It is a practical approach that allows leaders to innovate faster, spend smarter, and de-risk bigger initiatives – producing results that appear on the P&L, not just in pilot projects.

Executive takeaway

Making it practical

You don’t need to invent everything yourself. Open Innovation is not just open source, crowdsourcing, IP licensing, university collaboration, startup or VC activity. It involves the coordinated management of all knowledge sharing. By engaging the right partners, setting clear boundaries, and aligning with an effective business model, shared knowledge can be turned into tangible results.

Why it matters for business

  • Access to smarter capabilities: leveraging external labs, data, channels, IP, and talent to achieve what’s slow or impossible alone.
  • Sharing risk and cost: stage-gated co-investment, shared KPIs, and aligned incentives.
  • Shortening time-to-value: starting from proven partner assets to compress cycles and improve success odds.
  • Business model innovation: turning external know-how into pricing, bundling, and channel strategies that boost margins and growth.
  • Moving fast while staying compliant: clear IP and data playbooks, confidentiality rules, and reward systems ensure safe and efficient collaboration.
  • Building resilience: diversifying technology, supply chains, and routes-to-market across ecosystems to soften shocks.
  • Attracting talent and partners: signaling openness and purpose to draw high-caliber people and top-tier strategic partners.

Why It Matters for CEOs?

Black number "1" centered on a light purple square.

Speed & Cost

Start in the middle of the value chain; shorten time-to-market.

Black number "2" centered on a light purple square.

Risk/ROI

Share risks and rewards; create more “shots on goal” with the same capital.

Black number "3" centered on a light purple square.

Talent

Most smart people work elsewhere – tap them.

Black number "4" centered on a light purple square.

Growth

A better business model often beats a better technology.

Black number "5" centered on a light purple square.

Exploration

OI helps you discover your next business model while executing today’s.

Why Now? Baltic and Global Context

Rising complexity, constrained budgets and ecosystem advantages

Global drivers

  • Rising complexity in AI, platforms, and data ecosystems increases the cost of going solo
  • Geopolitical volatility and supply chain shocks require diversified partnerships
  • Green and digital twin transitions demand cross-industry collaboration
  • Not all the smartest people work for you; your people must be connected to external excellence

Baltic opportunity

  • Dense startup and deep-tech scene with export-minded talent
  • EU programs and funding instruments favor consortia and cross-border projects
  • Strong universities seeking tighter industry links to commercialize research
  • SMEs need access to testbeds, governance know-how, and partner networks

KTU Open Innovation Center: The idea

A university-embedded innovation hub that helps companies find the right partners, test ideas in real environments, and de-risk adoption of new technologies and business models.

Value for Your business:

  1. Curated scouting & fit
    Startups, labs, and corporates matched to your problem, industry, security, and data needs.
  2. Testbeds and MLaB access
    Real environments to validate solutions, measure performance, and capture evidence for the business case.
  3. IP and governance playbooks
    Templates for data sharing, confidentiality, licensing, and stage-gated funding. Faster collaboration with lower legal friction.
  4. Capability building
    Executive workshops on OI strategy, partner selection, and business-model integration. Plus navigation of EU instruments for pilots and scale-ups.

Outcomes (what changes on the P&L):

  • Fewer dead-end pilots, more scale decisions.
  • Faster time-to-first value and shorter cycles to revenue.
  • Lower cost/risk through staged partner funding.
  • Repeatable governance and stronger internal capability.

About this Summit: From ideas to action

Featured speakers & hosts

Andrius Ojeras

Andrius Ojeras

Jolanta Dickute

Dr. Jolanta Dickute

Wim Vanhaverbeke

Prof. Wim Vanhaverbeke

Liudvika Starkiene

Dr. Liudvika Starkiene

Henry Chesbrough

Prof. Henry Chesbrough

Edita Gimžauskienė, Vice‑Rector of Strategic Partnerships at KTU, standing in modern university interior.

Prof. Edita Gimžauskienė

Asta Pundzienė leaning on glass railing in a bright educational facility hallway, wearing a light blazer, neutral background with corridor and windows.

Prof. Asta Pundzienė

Lukas Geryba

Lukas Geryba

Summit Partners

Summit Agenda

Purpose – hold business-to-business discussions on how collaboration among complementary organisations can add value to innovation creation, including what is needed to create a viable open innovation ecosystem in Lithuania.

30 October 2025, 14:30–18:00
KTU M-Lab, Studentų Str. 63A, Kaunas 

14:30–15:00
Registration and Networking Coffee
15:00–15:10
Opening Remarks

Prof. Asta Pundzienė
15:10–15:40
Keynote: Open Innovation in a Nutshell

Prof. Henry Chesbrough
15:40–16:20
Panel I: Benefiting from Open Innovations

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, medium and large companies can no longer rely solely on internal R&D to stay competitive. Open innovation (OI) – building innovations through collaboration – offers a strategic approach that allows organisations to tap into external ideas, technologies, and partnerships – accelerating growth, efficiency, and sustainability. This panel will discuss how Lithuanian and international corporations are successfully integrating open innovation practices. Panelists will share practical examples of innovation partnerships, managing intellectual property, and aligning open innovation with corporate strategy, value creation, and value capture.

Prof. Asta Pundzienė

Dr. Liudvika Starkiene, Chairwoman of the Board of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Industry Association.

Dr. Wim Vanhaverbeke, Professor Emeritus of Digital Strategy at the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Antwerp.
16:20–16:40
Networking Coffee Break
16:40–17:20
Panel II: Building Open Innovation Viable Ecosystem

As global competition accelerates and technologies converge, no single organisation can innovate in isolation. For medium and large companies, sustainable success depends on their ability to engage in open innovation ecosystems, that is, dynamic networks of corporations, startups, universities, investors, and public institutions that co-create solutions with global reach. This panel will explore how business leaders can shape and benefit from such ecosystems to drive growth, sustainability, and competitiveness. Drawing from European and global best practices, panelists will share insights on governance and partnerships that can help to build a viable open innovation ecosystem.

Prof. Henry Chesbrough

Dr. Jolanta Dickute, Novartis Sr Medical Engagement Partner Lithuania

Andrius Ojeras, Regional Oracle Cloud Leader Baltic & Adriatic countries
17:20–17:50
Ideas2Actions

Prof. Edita Gimžauskienė
17:50–18:00
Closing Session: Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Prof. Henry Chesbrough
Prof. Asta Pundzienė

Registration

Business Open Innovation Summit

Important: Completing this form constitutes an application to attend the Business Open Innovation Summit. Attendance is subject to approval and will be confirmed only via email. Please wait for the confirmation email before making any arrangements. If you do not receive it within a reasonable time, check your spam folder or contact us via openinnovation@ktu.lt.

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Contacts

Kaunas University of Technology Open Innovation Center

Studentų St. 63a, LT-51369 Kaunas, Lithuania
Email: openinnovation@ktu.lt