Incubating open innovation: How can the participation in the COII support companies to open up? - A single case study exploring open innovation within an incubator

Abstract: Research question: How can the participation in the COII support companies to open up? Methodology: The thesis applies a single case study design to examine an opening up process in relation to open innovation. The thesis used a qualitative research strategy with inductive design with influences of deduction. The primary data emerged from semi-structured interviews to grasp an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon, with the goal to let theory arise from the data. In order to make sense of the data, a transparent and systematic technique to data analysis is applied. Theoretical perspectives: The theoretical concept underlying this study is open innovation and the outside-in and inside-out knowledge flows basilar to it. In that relation the COII is studied as a tool for open innovation, while simultaneously classifying the COII with theory on incubators. In order to measure a company’s openness and therefore the opening up effect within the incubator this thesis is further utilizing theories in knowledge and inter-firm knowledge transfer. Conclusions: The case company under study recently formulated a new strategy to engage more in open innovation and is participating in a COII since 2017 as part of this new direction. However, companies need to achieve a certain kind of openness to profit from knowledge flows across boundaries of the firm. The results show that a participation in the COII supports companies to achieve a higher degree of openness, especially by facilitating outside-in knowledge flows in open innovation. In that relation the analysis did not significantly confirm that the participation in the COII facilitates inside-out knowledge flows. Furthermore, this study explores enablers that create an environment that fosters knowledge sharing as well as knowledge practices that comprise of methods and activities. Both enablers and knowledge practices foster knowledge flows within the COII. This study contributes to the knowledge body of open innovation by scrutinizing a new form of this concept, namely the COII. Moreover, it unveils how companies generate knowledge flows when they embody the incubatees themselves