--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No one has a monopoly on knowledge the…" description: "\"No one has a monopoly on knowledge the way that, say, IBM had in the 1960s in computing, or that Bell Labs had through the 1970s in communications. Whe..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/31b/henry-chesbrough-68040_1960s_no-one-has-a-monopoly-on-knowledge-the-w_3074947.jpg" --- # No one has a monopoly on knowledge the way that, say, IBM… ![“No one has a monopoly on knowledge the way that, say, IBM had in the 1960s in computing, or that Bell Labs had through the 1970s in communications. When useful knowledge exists in companies of all sizes and also in universities, non-profits and individual minds, it makes sense to orient your…” quote by Henry Chesbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/31b/henry-chesbrough-68040_1960s_no-one-has-a-monopoly-on-knowledge-the-w_3074947.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/31b/henry-chesbrough-68040_1960s_no-one-has-a-monopoly-on-knowledge-the-w_3074947.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/31b/henry-chesbrough-68040_1960s_no-one-has-a-monopoly-on-knowledge-the-w_3074947.jpg) > “No one has a monopoly on knowledge the way that, say, IBM had in the 1960s in computing, or that Bell Labs had through the 1970s in communications. When useful knowledge exists in companies of all sizes and also in universities, non-profits and individual minds, it makes sense to orient your innovation efforts to accessing, building upon and integrating that external knowledge into useful products and services.” Henry Chesbrough ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Innovation thrives when firms tap external knowledge sources instead of relying solely on internal R&D. **In simple terms:** Leverage ideas from outside your organization. Key Takeaway Seek and integrate external expertise. Themes innovation collaboration knowledge sharing Mood strategic optimistic Type business inspirational When to use this quote - product development - strategic partnerships - research collaborations Key Concepts open innovation network effects Questions to Reflect On - What external sources can you engage now? - How will you protect shared IP? A Different Perspective External knowledge may be costly or hard to protect. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bells/) [Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/) [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Company](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/company/) [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Computing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computing/) [Effort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/effort/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Innovation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innovation/) [Labs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labs/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Monopoly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monopoly/) [Non profit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/non-profit/) [Profit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profit/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) [University](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/university/) [Useful knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/useful-knowledge/) ## Related quotes > [“Of course, all knowledge is useful. But not all knowledge is worth the cost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-harper/of-course-all-knowledge-is-useful-but-not-all-knowledge-is-worth-the/) [Suzanne Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-harper/) > [A scientist sets out to conquer nature through knowledge - external nature, external knowledge. By these means he may split the atom and achieve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/a-scientist-sets-out-to-conquer-nature-through-knowledge-external/) [B.K.S. Iyengar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-k-s-iyengar/) > [The only people who ever prize purity of ignorance are those who profit from a monopoly on knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/the-only-people-who-ever-prize-purity-of-ignorance-are-those-who/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [“A monopoly on knowledge is tantamount to a monopoly on everything else of value”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meredith-duran/a-monopoly-on-knowledge-is-tantamount-to-a-monopoly-on-everything/) [Meredith Duran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meredith-duran/) > [General knowledge may have to be slight or even amateurish knowledge, but it is none the less useful, and we discourage it at our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-v-wedgwood/general-knowledge-may-have-to-be-slight-or-even-amateurish-knowledge/) [C. V. Wedgwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-v-wedgwood/) > [“Knowledge is always useful, even if...if it is not immediately apparent how it will be useful.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-nix/knowledge-is-always-useful-even-if-if-it-is-not-immediately-apparent/) [Garth Nix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-nix/) > [“information and knowledge is only useful and powerful if you implement it and ise, if you dont use it, it serve no purpose to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanville-moses/information-and-knowledge-is-only-useful-and-powerful-if-you/) Sanville Moses > [Advocates of knowledge management as the next big thing have advanced the proposition that what companies need is more intellectual capital. While that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-pfeffer/advocates-of-knowledge-management-as-the-next-big-thing-have-advanced/) [Jeffrey Pfeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-pfeffer/) > [There is no kind of knowledge which is useful to one and unuseful to another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akash-rajoriya/there-is-no-kind-of-knowledge-which-is-useful-to-one-and-unuseful-to/) [Akash Rajoriya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akash-rajoriya/) > [Change itself is neither good nor bad, but knowledge is always useful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-paolini/change-itself-is-neither-good-nor-bad-but-knowledge-is-always-useful/) [Christopher Paolini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-paolini/) > [Knowledge is only useful if you do something with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-pfeffer/knowledge-is-only-useful-if-you-do-something-with-it/) [Jeffrey Pfeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-pfeffer/) > [Abstract knowledge is always useful, sooner or later.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/abstract-knowledge-is-always-useful-sooner-or-later/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Knowledge is nothing else than reflection or mirroring. Knowledge exists in itself only if this reflection or mirroring does and by no other way.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sorin-cerin/knowledge-is-nothing-else-than-reflection-or-mirroring-knowledge/) [Sorin Cerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sorin-cerin/) > [“There is no new knowledge, it already exists in the universe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-richards/there-is-no-new-knowledge-it-already-exists-in-the-universe/) [Stephen Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-richards/) > [Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/whatever-in-creation-exists-without-my-knowledge-exists-without-my/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## More by Henry Chesbrough > [Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-chesbrough/open-innovation-is-a-paradigm-that-assumes-that-firms-can-and-should/) Henry Chesbrough > [Most innovations fail. And companies that don’t innovate die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-chesbrough/most-innovations-fail-and-companies-that-don-t-innovate-die/) Henry Chesbrough > [In a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-chesbrough/in-a-world-of-widely-distributed-knowledge-companies-cannot-afford-to/) Henry Chesbrough Explore all 4 Henry Chesbrough quotes ## More 1960s quotes > [We do need different types of propulsion to get to Mars. I wrote one of the first Ph.D. theses on that in the 1960s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-do-need-different-types-of-propulsion-to-get-to-mars-i-wrote-one/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it. And if we cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/each-year-more-than-100-000-high-school-graduates-with-proved-ability/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Nearly all the writing of our time is likely to disappear in a hundred years. Certainly most readers - and nearly all critics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/nearly-all-the-writing-of-our-time-is-likely-to-disappear-in-a/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [Sometimes a party must sail against the wind. We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-kennedy/sometimes-a-party-must-sail-against-the-wind-we-cannot-heed-the-call/) [Edward Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-kennedy/) > [ \[In the 1960s\]...you could take LSD but you couldn't wear a pantsuit. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsey-johnson/in-the-1960s-you-could-take-lsd-but-you-couldn-t-wear-a-pantsuit/) [Betsey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsey-johnson/) > [Is it a coincidence that stories from the private life became more popular just as the grand hope for public redemption through revolution was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-griffin/is-it-a-coincidence-that-stories-from-the-private-life-became-more/) [Susan Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-griffin/) > [I think the general anxiety of the 1960s - '70s spawned our interest in the living dead. When people worry about the end of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-brooks/i-think-the-general-anxiety-of-the-1960s-70s-spawned-our-interest-in/) [Max Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-brooks/) > [“A friend once told me a story about a former Black Panther leader in a Midwest community who in the 1960s had his phone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-j-rodr-guez/a-friend-once-told-me-a-story-about-a-former-black-panther-leader-in/) [Luis J. Rodríguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-j-rodr-guez/) > [I was never bothered about my position in the industry. If I had believed in it, I wouldn't have allowed anyone to get ahead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dharmendra/i-was-never-bothered-about-my-position-in-the-industry-if-i-had/) [Dharmendra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dharmendra/) > [Under the system that we now have to nominate presidential candidates, for instance, I would prefer that we have a system that is closer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-beschloss/under-the-system-that-we-now-have-to-nominate-presidential-candidates/) [Michael Beschloss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-beschloss/) > [My son Bill, who came to me in 1960-he was 14 then, quoted the old parable to me: "It is not by their words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/my-son-bill-who-came-to-me-in-1960-he-was-14-then-quoted-the-old/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [There is a book called San Francisco Tape Music Centre:1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde and this book describes everything that you want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/there-is-a-book-called-san-francisco-tape-music-centre-1960s/) [Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/) > [Much of the art of the 1960s, from body art to video and direct performance, was concerned with similar issues. And then there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valie-export/much-of-the-art-of-the-1960s-from-body-art-to-video-and-direct/) [Valie Export](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valie-export/) > [I went through college in the 1960s without having any idea that I was going to have to make a living. When I graduated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francine-prose/i-went-through-college-in-the-1960s-without-having-any-idea-that-i/) [Francine Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francine-prose/) > [“At the beginning of a decade when everything was beginning to seem possible, nothing seemed impossible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-lee-shetterly/at-the-beginning-of-a-decade-when-everything-was-beginning-to-seem/) [Margot Lee Shetterly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-lee-shetterly/) Browse all 486 1960s quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "No one has a monopoly on knowledge the way that, say, IBM had in the 1960s in computing, or that Bell Labs had through the 1970s in communications. 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