Identifying the Barriers to Collaborative Innovation in a Research and Development Organization: A Case Study

Purpose - Much has been written extoling the virtues of developing an open innovation approach to building a responsive and competitive product and services portfolio (Chesbrough & Garman, 2009). Certainly, there would be few who would argue against the benefits of collaboration with customers and business partners. However, establishing a trusting and balanced relationship where all stakeholders in the innovation process see a return on their investment is not without its difficulties. This paper will look at the particular case of the Innovation Value Institute (IVI), which was set up in 2006. This is a research organization that formed through a direct alliance between industry, academia and government. The IVI is focused mainly on mode 2 research, with the emphasis on developing a research capability around 'IT for business value'. The institute uses an open innovation approach to work with external organizations. Although this has provided the IVI with the ability to quickly source industry partners and subject matter experts, the challenges of managing stakeholder expectation, especially those in direct competition with one another, has not been trivial. This paper will highlight the issues IVI has faced in ensuring stakeholder expectations are managed in a way that maximises contribution from research partners in a way that also ensures the research output is accessible to all members of the IVI research community. Design/methodology/approach - This paper will present its findings in a case study format (Yin, 2002). However, the manner in which the IVI engages and conducts its research will be examined, as this is fundamental to encouraging a triple helix (academia, industry, and government) collaborative open innovation approach. IVI is mainly engaged in mode 2 research that follows an 'engaged scholarship' (Van de Ven, 2007) approach, with particular emphasis on a 'design science' (Hevner, et al, 2004) perspective. Through design science the desire to look for and encourage the development of artefacts as part of the research process is important as it provides an added incentive to industry and government partners to engage in research and any follow-on development projects. Originality/value - The area of triple helix research collaboration, and the barriers to successful engagement are relatively new, and to a large extent uncovered in the innovation literature. Organizations involved in this type of research operate in a highly competitive environment, and successful practices are a closely guarded secret. What this paper sets out to do is identify the factors that one research institute, in this case IVI, has experienced and the methods used to minimise the impact of these factors on research output.