Purpose: Knowledge assumes a pivotal role in the open innovation (OI) paradigm. Yet OI has been scantly investigated by adopting a knowledge management (KM) lens. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review of the KM practices analysed by prior literature to support OI activities. Design/methodology/approach: To perform a valuable literature review, the steps for systematic review proposed by previous studies have been adopted. These steps have yielded a final sample of 34 articles. Afterward, the authors have distinguished and analysed the identified articles according to the three main OI processes, i.e. inbound, outbound and coupled OI processes. Findings: This research groups and highlights the most relevant KM practices to support OI activities on the basis of the inbound, outbound and coupled OI processes. Originality/value: Despite knowledge is the most relevant resource exchanged in OI activities, this is the first attempt to highlight how knowledge should be managed in an OI context by adopting a KM lens. Furthermore, the authors also identify relevant topics that have been so far understudied, which the authors suggest as future research directions.

Despite the theoretical value of industrial symbiosis (IS), this approach appears to be underdeveloped in terms of practical applications. Different attempts to stimulate IS in practice are noticed, one of them consisting in the application of adequate policy measures. This paper explores the efficacy of two specific policies (landfill tax and economic subsidy for IS exchanges) in supporting the emergence of self-organized industrial symbiosis networks (ISNs). We frame the ISNs as complex adaptive systems and we design an agent-based model to simulate their emergence. We use a real case study and, by means of the simulation model, we assess how the two policy measures are able to enhance the formation of spontaneous IS relationships, thereby forcing the emergence of the ISN. Results show that both policy measures have a positive effect in all scenarios considered, but the extent is strictly dependent on the environmental conditions in which IS relationships occur. The economic implications for the government are finally discussed.

It has been argued that ambidexterity can be achieved by establishing strategic alliances with partners that occupy a downstream or upstream position in the innovation value chain (i.e., alliance ambidexterity), hence reconciling the tensions between exploration and exploitation. However, empirical tests confirming that this partnering strategy improves innovation performance are still scant. Therefore, in this paper, we aim at covering this gap by empirically analyzing the relationship between alliance ambidexterity and innovation performance. Furthermore, since firm age affects firms’ commitment toward explorative and exploitative activities, we also examine the moderating effect of firm age on the abovementioned relationship. Results are based on a sample of 1017 biotechnology companies that have established, at least, one strategic alliance over the period 1982–2011. In detail, using a random-effects negative binomial regression, we find that alliance ambidexterity positively influences innovation performance, and firm age exerts a negative moderating effect.

Purpose: Into cultural and creative industries, the innovation is increasingly realized by a lead creator which is supported by a specific team. Hence, this paper aims to understand the composition of this particular team.Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted an in-depth case study of “Dal Pescatore”. This is the Italian restaurant keeping the highest award previewed by Michelin Guide from the longer period. The main figures of the restaurant are the head chefs (Nadia and Giovanni Santini) who are continually supported by a dedicated teamFindings: The analysis underlines the necessity to create a team which combines aged people linked to firms’ tradition with a low percentage of young foreign apprentices. If the old-timer member assures a deep understanding of the firm’s knowledge base, the young foreign apprentice can show an high learning attitude through which he/she more easily shares their different knowledge.Research limitations/implications: This study discussed organizational efforts to foster innovation capacities of the main individuals into a firm. However, the present research suffers from some limitations which limits the generalizability of the results beyond the company studied: a single case study on a small and family firm with consolidated organizational routines. In addition, this research does not solutions about the mechanisms of interaction among these different team members.Originality/value: Recent studies observed how a number of cultural and creative firms innovate through a particular team that develops the ideas of a lead creator. Nevertheless, despite the increasing importance of these teams, their composition remains unclear.

The relevance of microgravity research—i.e., research activities related to the possibility to generate and/or take advantage of an environment scantly affected by gravitational effects—is becoming more and more important for both policymakers and executives, not only in the aerospace domain but also in many other domains. However, tracing the evolution of the technological landscape deriving from microgravity research is very complex due to the fast-growing solutions emerging from such a research activity as well as their diversified nature in terms of actors and domains of relevance. This makes difficult to identify/foresee the most exploited/promising solutions related to microgravity research, set the research budget for subsequent R&D activities, recognize relevant business opportunities, and regulate access to space. Therefore, this article aims to delve into the technological outcomes of microgravity research, so revealing their main development trends (i.e., temporal trends, the geographic origins of related solutions, main technological areas, key research organizations, and the highly impacting technologies) to provide visions of the future (i.e., technology foresight) and derive implications for business and policy. To do so, we collected and analyzed a unique sample of 4401 patents, applied between 1960 and 2020, in the wide domain of microgravity research.

In the industrial environment, more stable and cooperative supply relationships require the rating and the selection of suppliers. Usually, this impor...