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With open innovation gaining popularity, the question is how firms view its conceptualisation. This is of particular interest for those national economies that are patchy and consisting largely of small and medium-sized enterprises, as in Scotland. To solicit views of Scottish firms a focus group was organised centred on core themes of open innovation. Interviews with Scottish Innovation Centres complemented the focus group. The outcomes suggest that canonical views on ‘open innovation’ prevail, particularly for collaboration, even though its opportunities are well-recognised. It also turns out that some Scottish companies hold myopic views on innovation, which could be an explanatory factor for the oft-discussed innovation gap in the United Kingdom. Most interestingly, our study also reveals the concept of open innovation is not always understood for what it covers; it is recommended that the term ‘open innovation’ is redefined as ‘open collaboration’ to better reflect its nature. JEL Codes: O32