Beyond R&D: a configurational approach to open innovation in the Veneto region

The innovation performance of regions is increasingly dependent on the capacity of firms to rely on collaborative networks to develop new products, services, and processes. This work adopts a systemic approach to explore the collaborative innovation strategies of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), identifying the existence of multiple combinations of collaborative networks associated with high innovation performance. We conduct a configurational analysis to study the innovation performance of a sample of manufacturing SMEs in the Veneto region and obtain several interesting results. First, we identify eight configurations of open innovation (OI) strategies associated with the same outcome, i.e. high innovation performance. Second, we identify a dual mode of OI, stemming from the presence or absence of an in-house R&D lab. In particular, non-R&D SMEs rely on knowledge-intensive business services as innovation knowledge brokers. Third, start-up companies emerge as OI champions, sourcing both technology-driven and customer-driven knowledge from a wide variety of partners.