TOKYO -- Japanese companies have a long tradition of keeping everything in-house. But increasingly, they are embracing "open innovation," looking beyond their corporate borders for help in developing new products and finding business solutions.
In early August, Yuko Nakazawa, president of a consumer electronics startup called UPQ, unveiled 24 new products -- including smartphones, an action camera and a transparent touchscreen keyboard -- at a launch event in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district. All of these products come in the same greenish-blue cyan.
