A critical success factor in the practice of Open Innovation is the timely identification of opportunities for out-licensing a firm's technologies outside its core business. This can be particularly challenging for small-and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs), because of their focussed business portfolio, specialized knowledge basis, and limited financial resources that can be devoted to innovation activities. The paper illustrates a quick and easy-to-use methodology for the identification of viable opportunities for out-licensing a firm's technologies outside its core business. The method uses established TRIZ instruments in combination with non-financial weighting and ranking techniques and portfolio management tools. It has been developed by the authors in collaboration with an Italian SME working in the packaging industry.The role of SMEs in innovation and their impact on business is unquestionable. For instance, in the United Kingdom, SMEs account for 99% of businesses, 55% of non-government employment and 51% of turnover (SBS, 2001). These figures are common in most European countries. In the US, small enterprises accounted for 24% of all R&D expenses in 2005, compared with 4% in Enabling open innovation in SMEs r

The concept of the Triple Helix is often used as a vague model. Sometimes it plays a prescriptive role. At times it seems an empirical generalisation of local systems of science and technology. Moreover, it is unclear if it has to be interpreted as a neo-corporatist phenomenon or, on the other hand, if its dynamics seem to fit an evolutionary model. We propose to assess the Triple Helix model by an analysis of some of the most innovative European regional areas. The aim of this assessment is to verify the prescriptive hypothesis that only an evolutionary model of Triple Helix, where the evolution of a strong interaction of academy-industry relations is shaped by regulation and market forces and not by the direct intervention of government and public bodies, is able to produce the best S&T output.

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