Publicly funded national science agencies create value as innovation catalysts and through their scientific and research missions, they tackle wicked problems. Understanding how dynamic capabilities and business model innovation enable research-intensive organisations to seize the market in the mission is key to translating bold new science that has impact. We qualitatively explore how Australia's national science agency-the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)-has pursued open innovation to support business model-dynamic capabilities in an evolving publicly funded landscape. We reflect on the value of open innovation initiatives that have allowed the CSIRO to ambidextrously pursue world-class science while achieving impact.

The world is changing as a function of social and technological factors with society becoming interconnected and its collective voice increasingly influential (O'Brien, 2011).This phenomenon is shaping the commercial and social landscape in which we live. In response to this, marketing practices have evolved in an effort to accommodate these social forces. However, prior investigations into how and where social demands and organisational benefits intersect are characterised by persistent ambiguities and an enduring lack of clarity regarding the factors that underpin effective socially-oriented marketing activity and the outcomes they engender.