Challenges in exploiting open innovation's full potential in the food industry with a focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

•Open innovation provides unique solutions addressing food industry challenges.•Collaboration (industry, academia, government and private business) is vital.•Development of new curricula, social responsibility and metrics are academia's duty.•Open innovation needs new intellectual properties model and management mindsets.•Open innovation offers SMEs a special avenue to better compete in the marketplace.

The food industry, and especially small and medium enterprises in that industry, are faced with numerous complex challenges that open innovation addresses. The main topics reviewed here are: adapting open innovation for the food industry's special needs, small and medium enterprises' unique challenges, open innovation solution providers, the roles of academia and the intellectual properties model. Some specific recommendations include: collaboration, creation of a new innovation ecosystem (industry, academia, government and private business), metrics to quantify academia's social responsibility and revised curricula promoting open innovation and innovation, small and medium enterprise involvement, a new intellectual properties model, and management mindsets and strategies. Open innovation is an opportunity for all stakeholders to proactively engage in meeting future challenges and opportunities.