Insights: The Case for Open Innovation in Mining

Today, businesses need to innovate to survive. However, businesses have increasingly struggled to reap the rewards of their innovation investment, which has regrettably diminished the incentive to spend on innovation efforts. In South Africa, Research, Development and Innovation expenditure decreased in 2018/19 for the first time since 2009/10. Large enterprises have struggled to identify and implement radical and disruptive innovative ideas into their value chains due to the various hurdles that accompany innovation delivery. The success of open innovation (OI) in many large enterprises from various industries offers business transformation leaders a glimmer of hope. Mining companies looking to drive rapid innovation can implement OI, as it gives them access to innovative ideas outside their normal sphere, through this they can rapidly implement the latest innovations, saving them time and money whilst driving a new culture of innovation. These companies will also need to reimagine their business operations, by firstly challenging the corporate innovation immune system namely, procurement and organisational culture. By embracing OI, the mining sector will begin to capture value similarly to other sectors applying open innovation, realizing sustainable innovation delivery and encourage continued or further investment into research, development and innovation. Our point of view (POV) shares the opportunities OI has for the sector, whilst also sharing the learnings of OI implementation through Exxaro Resources’ OI journey and lastly, we share OI implementation guidelines for business leaders.