Open and collaborative innovation in the automotive industry

This chapter discusses the implications of the sustainable transition on carmakers’ core competences and focuses on how carmakers can rely on open innovation during the era of shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles by describing the process through which they leverage open innovation for the provision and development of electric batteries, the most distinct component of electric vehicles. The chapter adopts a processual view that describes how Toyota, VW and GM used a path‐based open innovation framework for green technology characterized by an inverse U-shaped breadth and depth of partnerships correlated to different levels of technological uncertainty. The chapter also provides managerial implication and discusses how policy makers can support transitions toward radical and sustainable innovations.