A classification of intermediate open innovation ecosystems in healthcare industry

Purpose - Despite the great interest in Open Innovation approach (Chesbrough, 2003, 2012), few contributions relate to healthcare industry including both public and private organizations (hospitals, companies, universities), as well as "untraditional" players like doctors, nurses and patients. Even if recently some scholars started to propose a Network model to encourage innovation in a unique ecosystem (Lee et al., 2010; Estrin & Sim, 2010), the key role of all the other actors is not well addressed. With the aim to cover this gap, the study develops a unique classification framework able to represent the interactions among all the actors involved in the healthcare ecosystems, highlighting knowledge and information flows within them. The final result is to improve their innovation potentialities of Healthcare Ecosystem according to an open approach. Design/methodology/approach - Starting from a literature review in the fields of Open Innovation and Networks, with a particular attention to the peculiarities of healthcare industry, a theoretical framework is designed based on three main building blocks (players operating in healthcare system; network's structure depending on the exploration and exploitation stages; player's relations and positions along the Open Innovation process). In the framework, four different scenarios emerged, depending on the influence degree of the main players and on their motivations, describing a set of organizational structures pertinent with the relative ecosystems. Originality/value - Despite healthcare systems have been experiencing a radical change in their organizational model, few literature on Open Innovation and Networks relates to analyse it according to an open approach where also patients can contribute to their own wellbeing. Practical implications - The framework could represent a new proposal in the fields of Open Innovation and Networks, as well as a new organizational model for contexts where a variety of players with a wide range of interests coexist. It will support policy makers to adopt more relevant organizational structures depending on the mission to achieve.