Not Invented Here (NIH)

The not invented here (NIH) bias is a corporate or institutional mindset and culture that actively avoids using products, research, standards, or knowledge that already exist rather than use these pre-existing items and ideas because of their foreign (either national or other corporate) origins. This mindset has oftentimes hampered progress: either national, corporate, or private. This occurs on many occasions due to stubborn refusal to believe that other nations or individuals are capable of new or helpful ideas. For instance, before and during WWII, Nazi research in many scientific areas was hampered by Nazi biased distrust of Jewish scientists and academics.