ecosystems

Open Innovation

Open Innovation

Strengthening Innovation in SMEs
Annette Henn ORCID Icon, Dirk Sackmann
Despite the fact that SME innovation is critical to a country’s economic success, SMEs spend less than 50 % of their budget on R&D when compared to large companies. “Open innovation”is seen as helping SMEs to improve their competitive position. For regions dominated by SMEs it is important to develop an ecosystem that supports open innovation processes. Universities can be key enablers within these ecosystems. They support SMEs with their expertise in science and engineering as well as in innovation and project management. In this article we present a case study to demonstrate the role of a university of applied sciences in an open innovation ecosystem.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 39 | 2023 | Edition 6 | Pages 17-21
Navigating Ecosystem Virtuality

Navigating Ecosystem Virtuality

Addressing future challenges by means of innovation requires organizations to work together to a much larger degree than today, requiring both physical (‘colocated’) and digital collaboration. This collaboration for innovation often goes beyond single organizations and results in networks of shared value creation comprising different actors such as companies, research institutions, or supporting actors. These ecosystems of innovation transcend geographical and organizational boundaries and are enabled by the use of virtual tools. Our article is set out to capture the spectrum between colocated and digital collaboration in innovation ecosystems by introducing the concept of ecosystem virtuality. Specifically, we look at the degree of technology dependence, informational value, and temporal dispersion, and propose key antecedents of ecosystem virtuality such as geographical dispersion, boundary conditions such as the level of trust among actors, and how these factors influence the ...
Industry 4.0 Science | 2023 | | DOI 10.30844/wgab_2023_8