open innovation

What open innovation does

Open Innovation s.a.s. di Scabbia Maurizio & C. is an Italian consulting partnership founded in 2008 and headquartered in Noventa Padovana (Padova), Italy, with a current team of 9 people. The firm specializes in product and service innovation for manufacturing companies, and since inception claims to have worked with more than 120 enterprises across Italian and European industrial sectors including food/consumer goods (Rigoni di Asiago), sports/IoT (Elite), retail fixtures (Stefanplast, F.lli Poli), LED lighting (Ledheatsink), and exhibition systems (Nimlok Italia). Its service portfolio is built around five named offerings: The Product Decision Lab (an experiential product development workshop), AI per Product Development (a platform combining the George PM Partner generative AI assistant with Virtual Clients AI personas, both delivered via ChatGPT), Agile EcoDesign (a 72-card EcoDesign Action Card methodology plus eco-design guide), Winning the Innovation Game (a strategic workshop using Innovation Action Cards), and Diventare Antifragili (an organizational antifragility training program).

The firm's intellectual property consists of proprietary workshop methodologies, action-card toolkits, and AI-assisted tools layered on top of ChatGPT, with George PM Partner encoding more than 100 product management best practices. The technology stack is application-layer rather than foundational: the two AI products require end users to hold a ChatGPT Pro or Enterprise license and have no disclosed proprietary models, training pipelines, or patents. The firm is GDPR-compliant, uses Google Analytics on its website, and has no mobile applications, public API, or SDK.

The business model is sales-led, direct enterprise consulting with custom quote-based engagements billed on multi-year contracts. There are no publicly listed prices, no tiered SaaS subscriptions, and no disclosed revenue, funding, or institutional investors. The firm markets primarily through its website, case studies, and a direct email mailing list, and is privately held by founding partner Maurizio Scabbia, who serves as legal representative. Geographic scope is regional (Italy-focused with European reach), and the firm received €13,584 in Italian state aid in December 2021, the only disclosed public funding event.

Name

open innovation

Legal name

Open Innovation s.a.s. di Scabbia Maurizio & C.

Website

https://open-innovation.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Open Innovation is a 9-person Italian consulting partnership, founded in 2008, that helps manufacturing companies improve product and service innovation through workshops, proprietary methodologies (EcoDesign Action Cards, Innovation Action Cards), and ChatGPT-based AI tools (George PM Partner, Virtual Clients), serving 120+ enterprises primarily in Italy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Innovation Consulting Services

NAICS

Marketing Consulting Services (541613)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Innovation & Design Thinking Programs (EDAMAHAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Innovation Leadership & Leading Growth (EDABAAAO), Creativity & Innovation Mindset (EDABAMAH)

Keywords

• Innovation consulting
• Product development
• Manufacturing innovation
• Agile ecodesign
• Product management training

Headquarters

HQ city

Noventa Padovana

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Custom Consulting Services: Tailored consulting engagements for product and service innovation. Projects are customized to each enterprise's unique needs, helping clients increase revenue and profit through innovation. Engagements include capability development alongside consulting support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Open Innovation is a boutique consulting firm that helps manufacturing companies develop new products and services through custom consulting engagements, structured workshops, and proprietary AI-powered tools. Its core offering combines practitioner-led innovation methodologies (Agile EcoDesign, The Product Decision Lab, Winning the Innovation Game) with generative AI assistants (George PM Partner and Virtual Clients) that support ideation, validation, and product management.

Product overview

Open Innovation is a consulting firm specializing in product innovation for manufacturing companies since 2008. Their offering combines structured methodologies and AI-powered tools, centered on a platform called 'AI per Product Development' which includes George PM Partner (AI product management assistant) and Virtual Clients (AI-powered customer personas). Core service offerings include The Product Decision Lab (experiential workshop), Agile EcoDesign (sustainability integration), Winning the Innovation Game (innovation workshop), and Diventare Antifragili (antifragility training), all delivered through customized consulting engagements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Innovation Consulting Services Custom consulting interventions for product and service innovation, helping manufacturing clients increase revenue and profit through product, service, and business model innovation, combined with capability development support.
• The Product Decision Lab An intensive practical workshop experience where participants apply best practices through all phases of new product development in a realistic simulated market environment (Sweetburg 2100 confectionery competition), using AI as an exploration, synthesis, and hypothesis validation tool. Targeted at product managers, designers, and marketers.
• AI per Product Development AI-powered product development platform combining George PM Partner (AI assistant) and Virtual Clients (interactive personas) to help marketing, design, and product management teams leverage generative AI from ideation through validation and design phases.
• George PM Partner Virtual product management partner accessible via ChatGPT that provides guidance on product development decisions, incorporating over 100 best practices of product management. Requires ChatGPT Pro or Enterprise license.
• Virtual Clients Team of interactive AI-powered customer personas designed to help companies understand their customers by dialoguing with realistic profiles built on real data and typical market behavior patterns, for concept validation and customer insight gathering. Requires ChatGPT Pro or Enterprise license.
• Agile EcoDesign Practical approach and tools for manufacturing companies to integrate sustainability considerations into product ideation and design phases, including the 72 EcoDesign Action Cards and an eco-design guide, targeted at marketing and design functions.
• Winning the Innovation Game High-level management workshop using Innovation Action Cards to quickly identify innovation barriers and build a portfolio improvement roadmap from quick wins to longer-term projects, facilitated by an innovation expert.
• Diventare Antifragili Business game training program to help companies develop antifragile characteristics (awareness, agility, essentiality, open organization, modularity, creativity) to transform uncertainty and change into competitive advantage.

Quantifiable outcome

• 120+ companies helped since 2008

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Board of Innovation: Board of Innovation is a global innovation consulting firm that runs corporate innovation programs, sprints, and capability building — a direct competitor in the product/service innovation consulting space.
• Innosight: Innosight (founded by Clayton Christensen) specializes in innovation strategy, growth transformation, and capability building for enterprises — a comparable innovation consulting boutique serving similar product and corporate strategy buyers.
• Strategyzer: Strategyzer provides innovation management tools, workshops, and consulting (Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Design). Highly comparable to Open Innovation as both sell structured innovation methodologies and training for product teams.
• Livework: Livework is a service design and innovation consultancy offering workshops and capability programs to help organizations design better products and services — directly comparable in methodology and buyer profile.
• Strategyn: Strategyn pioneered outcome-driven innovation (Jobs-to-be-Done) consulting and training for product teams — comparable methodology-driven consulting serving similar product development buyers.

Broad incumbents

• IDEO: IDEO is a global design and innovation consultancy that runs workshops, capability programs, and product innovation engagements — a more established brand operating in the same design-thinking and product innovation space.
• Doblin (Deloitte): Doblin, now part of Deloitte, is a long-established innovation consulting practice — comparable in offering but operating at significantly larger scale as part of a Big Four portfolio.
• KPMG Innovation Practice: Big Four innovation consulting arms deliver product/service innovation strategy to large enterprises — comparable offerings but at vastly greater scale, often competing for the same manufacturing clients.

Emerging players

• HYPE Innovation: HYPE Innovation provides innovation management software and consulting to help enterprises run idea, portfolio, and innovation programs — overlapping with Open Innovation's AI-per-Product-Development platform ambition.
• Planbox: Planbox offers an AI-powered innovation management platform for idea, project, and portfolio management — a smaller-scale software competitor relevant to Open Innovation's emerging product layer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/open-innovation

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about open innovation