Raffaella Manzini

Innovation strategy is one of the most critical decisions firms face. Beyond the traditional make-or-buy dichotomy, hybrid and plural sourcing approaches, such as strategic alliances, highlight a third strategic option: collaboration. This study examines the combined effects of “making” (independently or jointly with partners) and “buying” innovation on firm performance. We develop an agent-based model and simulator in which heterogeneous firms are embedded in a directed random graph, enabling the analysis of interaction-driven innovation dynamics. Results indicate that the most advantageous strategy for economic performance varies with sectoral innovation intensity, underscoring the contextual nature of innovation choices. The agent-based approach reveals complex emergent behaviors and provides insights into how strategic decisions propagate through the system. These findings emphasize the importance for managers and policy-makers of adopting a holistic view of the innovation process and considering the interplay between internal development, external sourcing, and collaborative activities.

In this dynamic and full-opportunity world, firms must face challenges in markets and technologies. One of the main assets that firms can use to address these challenges is innovation, and an important element is to define the most appropriate innovation strategy. Inside innovation strategy, fundamental decisions are about selection, acquisition, and timing. Selected the innovations to develop; and how to acquire the innovation with respect to timing, firms are heterogeneous and two main approaches can be identified: to be technological leaders and technological followers. In this paper, the two approaches have been investigated to study the impact on the firm’s performance. To conduct this investigation, the Patent Agent-Based Innovation Model and Simulator (PABIM) has been enhanced. The PABIM is characterized by heterogeneous firms that are organized as a directed random graph. The use of an agent-based model allows for the exploration of emergent dynamics and their subsequent effects on performance. The results indicate that when a firm can adopt all the acquisition strategies (make, buy, collaborate), the optimal strategy concerning timing for firm performance is the leaders’ approach, independently of the sector innovation intensity. The study recommends that managers and policymakers adopt a comprehensive approach to innovation management, integrating pertinent technical knowledge related to product or process development with the necessary resources for effective implementation.

Patents are the most important tool to protect innovation and support the value creation process in early-stage financing as well as in Private Capital investments. This work studies the growing body of academic literature concerning the relations between Private Equity, Venture Capital and patents and formulates a theoretical framework and an agenda for future research. We review the specific body of research resulting from the entwining of corporate finance and innovation management. Through a bibliometric analysis of the literature, we adopt a quantitative approach to develop a content analysis on the 292 articles found. We present the open debate related to the improvement of the metrics to proxy the technological value of a company's innovation, especially in relation to startups and venture capital investments. We assess the key contributions, thematic clusters and emerging themes, formulating a theoretical framework grounded on the state of research. Additionally, we highlight the lack of integration of findings on signalling before the investment and the strategic use of Intellectual Property Protection Mechanisms assets by the investor to create value during the holding period. Finally, we outline future venues of research in the study of the relations between investments in innovative companies and positive socio-economic externalities.

La crescente rilevanza delle sfide ambientali e sociali ha reso la sostenibilità e l'economia circolare temi centrali nel dibattito accademico e industriale, evidenziando la necessità di modelli capaci di preservare il valore delle risorse e ridurre gli impatti lungo i cicli produttivi. In questa prospettiva, il presente Research Report ha l'obiettivo di fornire una rappresentazione degli ecosistemi circolari di tre imprese italiane, Ricehouse, Feralpi Siderurgica e Favini, che hanno avviato percorsi di circolarità integrando pratiche e principi del modello della Circular Economy (CE) all'interno delle proprie strategie e modelli organizzativi. La rappresentazione è stata sviluppata a partire da un'analisi descrittiva volta a evidenziare la struttura dei flussi materiali, informativi ed economici e le relazioni tra i diversi agenti che compongono ciascun ecosistema. Il research report è strutturato in quattro sezioni, sviluppate sulla base della letteratura scientifica, della letteratura grigia e di fonti secondarie: introduzione, economia circolare, casi di studio e conclusioni. L'introduzione contestualizza i riferimenti teorici del lavoro. La sezione dedicata all'economia circolare fornisce una panoramica del modello e delle sue principali caratteristiche. La terza sezione presenta i tre casi di studio delle aziende italiane analizzate in relazione alle innovazioni circolari e agli ecosistemi nei quali operano. Infine, le conclusioni sintetizzano i risultati emersi e offrono indicazioni per futuri approfondimenti.

La Space Economy rappresenta uno dei motori principali dello sviluppo economico e tecnologico a livello globale. Una delle aree in cui la Space Economy ha apportato contributi significativi è quella relativa allo sviluppo tecnologico. L’innovazione è un tratto caratteristico e, come in passato, continuerà a plasmare lo sviluppo e le attività delle imprese che partecipano a questo dominio. Sotto la spinta di cambiamenti a livello di mercato, di industria e di ecosistema, anche l'attività tecnologica e di ricerca e sviluppo hanno vissuto un'evoluzione significativa. Tecnologie e approcci emergenti, come la miniaturizzazione, le nuove tecniche di sviluppo e produzione e l'adozione di politiche di open innovation e collaborazioni pubblico-privato, stanno trasformando radicalmente il modo in cui si innova in questo settore. L'obiettivo principale di questa ricerca è esaminare l'evoluzione dell'attività innovativa nel settore della Space Economy attraverso l'analisi dei brevetti. Con un focus a livello globale, lo studio mira a identificare e valutare le dinamiche evolutive, le tendenze tecnologiche e il posizionamento dei principali attori innovativi. A tale scopo, abbiamo analizzato 357.945 brevetti depositati tra il 2000 e il 2022. Attraverso l'applicazione di analisi qualitative e quantitative, il report valuta l'evoluzione dell'attività innovativa nell'economia spaziale e nei domini che la costituiscono, prendendo in considerazione diverse dimensioni: temporale, territoriale e tecnologica. I risultati della ricerca evidenziano come l'innovazione nella Space Economy abbia registrato una crescita dell'88% tra il 2000-2011 e il 2012-2022, guidata dai domini dello Space Access e della Satellite Navigation, e influenzata principalmente dall'aumento significativo dei brevetti cinesi. Tuttavia, l'applicazione dell'indice IPI indica che la Cina ha un basso livello di capacità innovativa, mentre gli Stati Uniti rappresentano l'estensione geografica in cui vengono pubblicate le innovazioni con la maggiore capacità innovativa. Dal punto di vista tecnologico, si è verificato un cambiamento nelle tecnologie brevettate dal 2011-2012, con un aumento significativo delle innovazioni relative alle capacità di comunicazione, misurazione e calcolo. Inoltre, si osserva un aumento delle tecnologie con applicazioni cross-dominio.

In a dynamic world, full of opportunity, the development of tools able to support companies in the decision-making process plays a crucial role. In this paper, a new decision support system is presented. The tool developed is an agent-based simulator, which helps managers and decision maker in formulating choices to improve firms’ performance in terms of innovation. Both economic and innovation performance are considered. The economic performance is evaluated using firms’ profit, whereas the innovation performance is evaluated using the Innovation Patent Index (IPI) based on patent data. In particular, the paper shows how the newly developed tool can be used by managers to investigate the impact of open and closed innovation on the economic and innovation performance of firms through the “what-if” analysis. The results show that the tool is a very timely, useful and friendly instrument to investigate open and closed innovation used to improve the economic and innovation performance of firms.

Purpose: The study aims to test the success of university-industry (U-I) collaboration in terms of innovation process efficiency. Then, this study explores the moderating role of a set of organizational routines in the U-I relationship, which can help in overcoming the issues undermining the collaboration success. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on an international Open Innovation (OI) survey. The survey investigated the items to build the main variables of the conceptual framework, measured through seven-point Likert scales. Steps to ensure the reliability and validity of the variables were conducted. Then, hypotheses were tested with an ordinary least squares regression. Findings. Results show that the higher the collaboration intensity (depth) with universities, the higher the innovation process efficiency. Furthermore, organizational routines aimed at improving firms’ assimilation absorptive capacity further strengthen the positive effects of intensive collaboration on innovation process efficiency. Practical implications: Findings indicate that R&D managers should strive to build deep collaborations with universities to enhance process efficiency and invest in the quality of these relationships. Managers should create and maintain an internal environment that further enhances the positive effects of intensive collaboration on innovation process efficiency. Originality/value: The OI literature has not reached a shared view on the positive contribution of universities toward industrial firms’ innovation performance. The study adopts a process-efficiency view, rarely used by other OI studies usually focused on output indicators; this study unpacks, respectively, the role of the intensity of collaboration and the organizational routines, thus disclosing the benefit of U-I collaboration on innovation efficiency.

In this world so dynamic and full of opportunities, firms need to face challenges in markets and technologies. One of the main assets that firms can use to address these challenges is innovation and one important aspect of innovation management is choosing between insourcing (make) or outsourcing (buy) innovation. Not only the historical and dichotomous make-or-buy perspective should be taken into account by firms, but also hybrid and plural sourcing views as well as the creation of strategic alliances. Thus, in the dilemma, there is a third opportunity for firms, i.e. collaboration. In this work, the joint impact that "making" (alone or opening to collaborations with other companies) or "buying" innovation may have on companies' performance has been investigated. For this study, an agent-based model and simulator characterized by heterogeneous firms that are organized as a directed random graph has been developed. Results show that the most convenient strategy for economic performance is the buying innovation strategy. The adoption of an agent-based model allows an understanding of emerging dynamics and their effect on performance. For managers and policy-makers, it suggests the need to see the innovation process with a comprehensive view, including the understanding not only of the technical knowledge of the product or process produced but also the resources that need to be used or acquired to make it.