Vladova, Gergana | Adelhelm, Silvia

Informal knowledge flows in open innovation: both a blessing and a curse?

Abstract

Nowadays, many companies apply open innovation strategies and use different kinds of knowledge. Given this observation, the present study concentrates on an in-depth analysis of the importance of informal relations and knowledge transfer in open innovation processes. After a short review of the literature, we introduce action research, KMDL and online survey as our qualitative and quantitative research methods. Our work-in-progress paper includes qualitative results from the applied research project ‘Open Innovation in Life Sciences’. The preliminary findings contribute to the current literature with new aspects of informal knowledge flows. On the basis of our results we show that informal knowledge exchange with external actors but also internally carries an immense potential which firms have so far not tapped sufficiently. Given the complexity and multifaceted nature of informal knowledge we conclude that appropriate communication and knowledge management strategies need to be developed in the next step.