| Abstract |
Until two decades ago, innovative activities within companies were primarily conducted using their own knowledge and internal resources. However, advancements in modern information technologies and IoT devices have enabled broader community engagement in identifying problems and proposing solutions across various sectors, including railway transport. Implementing the open innovation concept allows companies to use knowledge from the wider social environment. Traditional business processes for addressing specific railway challenges are often slow, complex, and costly. The advent of IoT has facilitated a more rational, swift, and cost-effective approach to resolving particular issues on the railways through open innovation and crowdsourcing. This business model has already been successfully utilized in numerous countries to enhance railways and address specific problems within these transport systems. One of the significant areas where open innovations are effectively applied is traffic safety. This research focuses on using the concepts of open innovations in railways to improve efficiency and railway traffic safety. Many railways apply open innovations to advance smart railway transport in smart cities. For the railway industry, embracing open innovation is essential for maintaining competitiveness in the transport services market. This research aims to identify the advantages and limitations of the open innovation model by analyzing its practical applications in the railway sector. Insights from practical experiences and theoretical studies indicate that numerous railways worldwide successfully address specific situations and challenges through crowdsourcing and open innovation. Despite these advancements, there remains significant potential for further development of open innovation within the railway. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025. |
