In numerous fields, businesses have to rely on rapid development and release cycles. Variant new ideas and concepts can emerge through open innovation as the participants are not limited to the company scope. This makes open innovation an increasingly appealing option for the industry. One such open innovation platform, Demola, allows university students to work on real life industrial cases of their own interest. We have identified similarities with its way of operation to open source software development and find that it offers a viable motivational, organizational and collaborative solution to open innovation.