Innovation ecosystems and open innovation on micro-enterprises

Abstract

The growing importance of micro-enterprises in the business world requires a more thorough study and comprehension of the open innovation (OI) concept in such small environments. Innovation ecosystems (IE), applied to open innovation circles, are fundamental in co-creating value, knowledge, resources and capabilities for micro-enterprises. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the contributions of IE to OI in micro-enterprises in different scopes (general, implementation, risk mitigation, and capacitation). Besides, a qualitative methodological approach of ethnographic analysis, based on interviews with strata sorted by purposive sampling, was chosen to obtain data, which was then treated via thematic analysis. Results show innovation ecosystems’ impact as implementers, risk mitigators, and capacitors of open innovation practices in micro-enterprises was further unravelled and reinforced. Future studies should focus on the risk mitigation effects of OI’s implementation in these often risk-averse microenvironments.

Keywords

• Innovation ecosystems
• Open innovation
• Micro-enterprises
• Risk
• Resources