The shift towards open innovation has substantially changed the academic and practical understanding of corporate innovation. While academic studies on open innovation are burgeoning, most research on the topic focuses on the later phases of the innovation process. So far, the impact and implications of the general tendency towards more openness in academic and industrial science at the very front-end of the innovation process have been mostly neglected. Our paper presents a conceptualization of this open science as a new research paradigm. Based on empirical data and current literature, we analyze the phenomenon and propose four perspectives of open science. Furthermore, we outline current trends and propose directions for future developments.
