Design elements of innovation contests supporting Open Innovation in SMEs - An action research study

Abstract

While Open Innovation contests and intermediaries are widely adopted in large companies to source knowledge from the outside, it is not clear to what extent contests can help break down the barriers that SMEs face in pursuing Open Innovation. In this paper, we present the results of an action research study pivoting on an analysis of ten innovation contests that were successfully run in three European countries. The contests aimed to identify innovation opportunities through interaction of SMEs with higher education institutions, research centers, other companies, or end-users. The findings suggest that innovation contests can be viable instruments for SMEs to implement Open Innovation support policies. In particular, our analysis uncovered some structural elements and design options for contests that had been overlooked in previous research. On this basis, and considering the practical aim of the study, the paper presents a new framework of twelve components that can be used by innovation intermediaries for the development of innovation contests specifically designed to enable Open Innovation in SMEs.