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Open Innovation Software 2026: How to Choose by What You Need

Open innovation software compared by the job it does: calls to partners you know, solver crowds, startup dealflow, research scouting and full innovation suites. Including what Hives.co does not do.

Updated Alexander Wennerberg8 min read

Quick summary

Most lists of open innovation software rank tools against each other as if they all did the same job. They don’t. A solver network, a startup database and a portfolio suite solve different problems, and a company that buys the wrong kind spends a year working around it.

So this guide sorts the market by the job you need done first, and then names the tools that do it. There are six jobs:

What you need The kind of tool Examples
Answers from partners you already know or can name A challenge tool with guest access and jury scoring Hives.co
Answers from people you have never met A solver network or prize platform Wazoku (with InnoCentive), HeroX
A pipeline of startups to partner with A startup relationship and dealflow tool Yoomap
To find who already solved it in research or patents A research and technology scouting service Findest, ITONICS
One system for the whole innovation lifecycle An innovation suite with portfolio management HYPE Innovation, Brightidea, Qmarkets, ITONICS
Ideas and votes from citizens or a big community A crowd voting platform IdeaScale

We make Hives.co, so we are one of the options. We say below where it fits and, just as plainly, where it doesn’t.

Start with one question: whom are you asking?

Open innovation means bringing in knowledge from outside the company. If you are new to the idea, our guide to what open innovation is covers the forms and examples. For buying software, the question that sorts the market is who answers.

  • People you know or can name: suppliers, a university group, ten startups you picked. You need a way to send one brief, collect answers in one place and score them fairly.
  • People you have never met: you need a crowd that already exists, because building one yourself takes years.
  • Startups as long-term partners, not just answers: you need a database and a pipeline, not a challenge form.
  • Nobody yet, because you don’t know who could solve it: you need someone to go and look, in research and patents.

Most companies need the first one before any of the others, and many never need more than that.

1. Calls to partners you already know

The job: send one specific question to a chosen group of startups, suppliers or researchers, get answers in a consistent form, and have a jury score them on the same criteria.

What to look for: guests who can answer without creating an account; guests who see their challenge and nothing else; must-haves asked as questions on the form, so every answer covers them; scoring on criteria you set; and a way to answer everyone at the end.

Hives.co runs an open call as an open innovation challenge: one brief out by link, QR code or email invitation, answers in one simple form, and a jury that scores each answer on the same criteria. Partners see their challenge and nothing else in your hive, and the same platform runs your employee ideas. When a specific challenge brings nothing in, Hives.co connects to Findest, our sister company, which goes and looks (more under point 4). Prices are published, from €695 a month.

2. Answers from people you have never met

The job: put a problem to a large outside crowd and pay for the best solution.

Wazoku combines internal idea management with open innovation through InnoCentive, which it acquired in July 2020, giving access to more than a million solvers, startups and subject matter experts. Pricing is a custom proposal. Our Hives.co vs Wazoku comparison goes through the differences.

HeroX describes itself as a global stage for challenges, ideas and rewards: organisations launch prize challenges, and its solver crowd has contributed to more than 200 challenge projects.

Choose this kind of tool when the answer is probably out there but you don’t know where, and a prize is a fair way to pay for it. Hives.co has no solver network of its own.

3. A pipeline of startups

The job: find startups, track your relationship with each one, and run calls for projects that feed a partnership pipeline.

Yoomap, part of the Questel group, is built for this: its SURM module manages startup relationships and open innovation dealflow, and LINK runs challenges and calls for projects. Our Hives.co vs Yoomap comparison covers when each fits.

Choose this kind of tool when startups are a programme of their own, with scouting, contracts and pilots to track over years. Hives.co can run the call for projects, but it keeps no startup database or dealflow behind it.

4. Finding who already solved it

The job: search scientific papers, patents and companies for the technologies and experts that could answer your question, before or instead of running a call.

Findest, our sister company, does this as a service and a platform: its Universe platform searches about 250 million scientific papers and patents, and Findest Scouts do a full deep-dive when a team needs one. In Hives.co the Findest connection is on the Pro and Enterprise plans and needs a separate Findest subscription.

ITONICS covers trend and technology scouting as part of a wider innovation system, with strategic foresight and portfolio management alongside.

Choose this kind of tool when the question is specific and a call would reach the wrong people, or nobody answered the call you ran.

5. One system for the whole innovation lifecycle

The job: run strategy, idea campaigns, open innovation, stage-gate projects and portfolio reporting in one suite, often for a central innovation team.

  • HYPE Innovation covers the full lifecycle, from strategy to portfolio management and execution, in many languages and aligned with ISO 56000. See Hives.co vs HYPE Innovation.
  • Brightidea suits organisations running several innovation programmes in parallel that need mature portfolio and pipeline management. See Hives.co vs Brightidea.
  • Qmarkets offers deep configurability, AI-supported evaluation and a choice of hosting regions for complex programmes. See Hives.co vs Qmarkets.
  • ITONICS spans trend scouting, strategic foresight and portfolio management. See Hives.co vs ITONICS.

None of these four publishes prices. Expect a quote and a proper implementation project. Choose this kind of tool when you need portfolio management across many projects and have a team to run the system. Hives.co doesn’t do portfolio management.

6. Ideas and votes from a big community

The job: collect ideas and votes from citizens, members or customers at scale, often in public.

IdeaScale is built for large government and community crowdsourcing programmes, where crowd voting, gamification and community reach matter most. It tailors its pricing to each customer and doesn’t publish prices. See Hives.co vs IdeaScale. For citizen participation on open-source software, see Decidim in our guide to free idea management software.

Six questions to ask every vendor

  1. Can a guest answer without creating an account? Every extra step loses answers, especially from busy startups.
  2. What does a guest see? Their challenge only, or more of your platform?
  3. Who owns what is submitted? Read the terms on intellectual property and confidentiality before the call goes out, and say them in the brief.
  4. How does the jury score? Shared criteria, one place, no spreadsheet merging at the end.
  5. Where is the data hosted? Partners’ proposals are often confidential. Ask for the region and the sub-processor list in writing.
  6. What does it cost as it grows? Ask for the price at full scale, not for the pilot. Most vendors in this market quote; few publish.

What Hives.co does, and what it doesn’t

Hives.co does:

  • open calls and challenges to partners you invite, by link, QR code or email invitation;
  • guest access to one challenge, without an account, while your own people sign in with their Microsoft or Google work account;
  • must-haves as questions on the form, jury scoring on your criteria, and an answer for everyone;
  • an always-open call for broad themes, reviewed on a schedule you set;
  • employee ideas on the same platform, so outside answers and inside ideas sit side by side;
  • research scouting through the Findest connection, on Pro and Enterprise with a separate Findest subscription;
  • published prices, from €695 a month, with customer data hosted in the EU.

Hives.co does not:

  • give you a solver network or a crowd of strangers;
  • keep a startup database or manage startup dealflow and contracts;
  • run incubation or accelerator programmes;
  • manage a stage-gate project portfolio.

If your need is on the second list, one of the tools above will serve you better, and our comparison pages say which.

Frequently asked questions

What is open innovation software?

Open innovation software helps a company bring in ideas and solutions from outside: calls to startups, suppliers and universities, challenges to a crowd of solvers, startup dealflow, or research scouting. Different tools do different parts of that, so start from whom you need answers from.

What is the best open innovation platform?

It depends on the job. For calls to partners you can name, a challenge tool with guest access and jury scoring, such as Hives.co. For a crowd of strangers, a solver network such as Wazoku with InnoCentive. For startup dealflow, Yoomap. For research and patent scouting, Findest. For full lifecycle and portfolio management, a suite such as HYPE Innovation, Brightidea, Qmarkets or ITONICS.

How much does open innovation software cost?

Hives.co publishes its prices, from €695 a month billed annually, with no per-user fees. Most other open innovation platforms, including Wazoku, HYPE Innovation, Brightidea, Qmarkets, ITONICS and IdeaScale, quote after a sales conversation. Ask every vendor for the price at full scale.

Can we run open innovation and employee ideas in one tool?

Yes. Several tools do both, including Hives.co, Wazoku and the innovation suites. In Hives.co an open call is a challenge of its own with guests in it, kept apart from your internal ideas but on the same platform.

Does open innovation software need a solver network?

Only if you need answers from people you don’t know. Many open innovation programmes start with a targeted call to partners the company already knows or has picked, which needs guest access and fair scoring, not a crowd.

Sources

All checked on 10 and 11 November 2026.

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