Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Depiction of Health 2008-9058 13 2 2022 06 13 Insight into the Paradigm of Open Innovation in the Face of the COVID Crisis-19 145 150 10.34172/doh.2022.22 EN Karim Kia Kojouri https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3733-1375 Journal Article 10.34172/doh.2022.22 2021 07 01 2021 11 26 The corona virus, as a pandemic disease, has exposed the world to difficult and critical conditions. In the meantime, the health service delivery system has been at the forefront of confronting and controlling this crisis. Given the special circumstances of the crisis and the threat to public health in Iran, the need for creativity and innovation to manage the corona crisis is more pressing than ever. Open innovation is a phenomenon that significantly influences the innovation cycle and increases the research and development costs, as well as scarcity of resources. By leveraging these benefits and using new ideas, it is possible to manage the crises and reduce damage, especially the COVID -19 crisis and the damage caused by it. The open innovation paradigm increases the success of the organization by using external and internal ideas. The basic idea behind open innovation is that there is an extensive knowledge that an organization cannot access to through its own proprietary research. Therefore, it must leverage other research through licensing, patenting, or purchasing them from other companies. In this model, organizations outsource some parts of the R&D process, use external ideas, constantly monitor the new products of competitors and leading companies and, in some cases, collaborate with competitors and other research centers (1,2). According to the studies investigating the process of innovation, the field of health and treatment has an open nature, and partnership with external organizations has become a key factor and vital capability (3,4). That way, valuable ideas can originate from outside the organization, and a successful activity process can be completed through partnerships with external factors (5). Open innovation has different meanings in the field of health (6), including the following: • Technical and clinical innovations: New therapeutic drugs, diagnostic tests, medical devices, software, surgical techniques; • Process and service innovations: Institutions, business models, service models, clinical pathways, roles, education; • System innovations: Policy innovation, system reform.