Open innovation and network dynamics. An analysis of openness of co-patenting collaborations in Florence, Italy

Purpose - The aim of this article is to investigate the relational dynamics for innovation and, in particular, the impact of the openness of innovation process on the innovation capacity of organisations in restricted geographical contexts. Methodology - Through a negative binomial regression, the work analyses how the characteristics of the openness of the organisation’s innovation process in the period 2004–2010 influence the firm’s patent productivity in the following period (2011–2016). Findings - The breadth of the open innovation process, here measured by the number of external network ties that an organisation realises for the realisation of its patents, has a positive effect on patent productivity. The depth of the openness, that is, the intensity of external network ties, has an equally positive influence on the innovative performance. However, after a tipping point, the patent productivity tends to decrease, underlining the costs and problems of open innovation practices. Research limits - The study considers only patent collaborations in the city of Florence. Therefore, it focuses on codified innovations and on a single territorial case study. Practical implications - The results underline the importance of the adoption of open innovation practices in restricted geographical contexts (such as cities, clusters or industrial districts) but with several limitations. Only collaborating more with others does not foster the organisation’s invention productivity, but different types of evidence are found here. Originality - An original database has been created, containing all the information on patents realised in the area of Florence from 2004 until 2016, and a social networks analysis was applied to identify the local innovation networks.