InnovationXchange network: towards open source innovation

Organisations developing new micro and nanotechnologies must collaborate with external parties in order to fully exploit the advances being made within this field. However, true collaboration is difficult across legally separate organisations where capabilities, business intentions and intellectual property are rarely articulated externally; and across disciplines where the developers of micro and nano technology are not the end users and 'don't know what they don't know' in potential areas of application. InnovationXchange (IXC) Australia Limited, trading as the IXC Network, is a not-for-profit, Australian initiative with a global focus to improve commercial outcomes across the boundaries of industries, academia, research and government through the deployment of IXC Intermediaries. An IXC Intermediary works inside client organisations, under a strict code of ethics and unique confidentiality structure and interacts with the network of IXC Intermediaries to search for and create connections for business growth. IXC Australia's clients have benefited from the service through the direct establishment of commercial contracts, collaborative research, and development programmes and decreased development times.