Open innovation and ethics – a matter of trustworthiness, accountability, and genuine benefit for those involved

ekip

Ethical challenges for open innovation in the CCIs

Current EU developments highlight ethical challenges in how the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) participate in and benefit from open innovation. ekip has examined innovation, inclusion, diversity, and the role of CCIs in policymaking, identifying both risks and opportunities.

The proposed EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034 signals increased funding for CCIs, yet raises questions about whether conceptual frameworks fully reflect their societal and economic value.

Three key ethical challenges

Taken together, current developments point to three major ethical challenges for CCIs participating in open innovation ecosystems, especially given their structure as small, decentralized SMEs.

According to ekip partner Nicola Osborne (University of Edinburgh), these challenges are:

• Supporting impactful and sustainable CCI innovation
• Nurturing inclusion and diversity of perspectives
• Ensuring authentic CCI voices in policymaking
  

Supporting impactful and sustainable CCI innovation

A central challenge lies in how “innovation” is defined and framed. This is especially visible in debates around AI, where efficiency gains coexist with concerns about exploitation of creative labor.

ekip therefore prioritizes policy approaches that recognize both the benefits of creative disruption and the risks of undermining CCI rights, ownership, and value creation.

Nurturing inclusion and diversity in innovation

Innovation has historically been shaped by limited perspectives, particularly in technology-driven fields. To counter this, ekip emphasizes inclusive innovation by ensuring diversity among creators, audiences, and the data shaping new products and services.

This includes attention to representation in sectors such as gaming, as explored in ekip’s Inclusivity in the Video Games Industry policy work.

Ensuring CCIs have an authentic voice in policymaking

Cultural policy and innovation policy are often siloed, reinforcing false distinctions between societal and economic value. This underestimates the CCIs’ contribution to innovation across sectors.

ekip argues that CCIs must actively participate in innovation policymaking not only in policies explicitly targeting CCIs, but across broader innovation frameworks.

Manifesting ethical values within ekip

To address these challenges, ekip has developed ethical guidelines embedded throughout the ekip Engine, focusing on:

• Robust and accountable methods and materials (including the Knowledge Bank)
• An open and inclusive ekip community
• Collaborative activity design that ensures all voices are heard
  

Open innovation, as Nicola Osborne notes, does not mean giving away intellectual property, but engaging in reciprocal, thoughtful collaboration that strengthens both ecosystems and individual businesses.

Trustworthiness, accountability, and genuine benefit remain central principles guiding ekip’s approach to ethical open innovation.