Packaging technologists in the pharmaceutical industry find themselves buffeted by regulatory winds at the same time as facing pressure to meet the expectations of drug developers. GlaxoSmithKline’s Keith Allen explains how a networked approach, called ‘open innovation’, can help.

In coining the term ‘open innovation’ in 2003, Henry Chesbrough unleashed a wave of new thinking about product development. The idea was adopted across a range of industries and for pharmaceutical packaging designers facing mounting pressure on a number of fronts, it offers some attractive opportunities.

Chesbrough, a professor at Berkeley’s business school, argued that companies had succeeded in the 20th century by developing new ideas in-house, guarding them jealously and using patents to legally uphold their competitive edge. For the most successful companies, this fuelled a virtuous circle where sales of a new product generated revenue to pay for further research activities. 

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Ian Duncan, Packaging Gateway, 08 April 2010