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This cumulative dissertation is based on three distinct scientific papers which deal with various strategies of external knowledge sourcing. The first two papers investigate the impact of collaboration on innovation performance taking into consideration a portfolio of external partners (customers, suppliers and universities) at different stages (idea generation, R&D, design, testing and market launch) of the new product development (NPD) process. Both papers rely on representative data of German firms from a wide range of industries. It sticks out that performance effects of external collaborations are highly partner-specific. Moreover firms of different size and in different technological environments can reap the benefits of external collaborations at distinct stages of the NPD process. The third paper investigates the determinants of demand at marktes for technology (MfT). At MfT disembodied knowledge (i.e. especially patents and licences) is traded at a certain price. The paper uses data from 20 industries in 24 European countries and provides almost exclusive evidence for demand side factors that propel and contrain acquisitions at MfT.:I Acknowledgements II Tables III Figures IV Abbreviations 1. Introduction 1.1 Motivation and relevant strands of literature 1.2 Research questions and contribution of the dissertation 1.3 Abstracts of the research articles 1.3.1 Abstract chapter 2 1.3.2 Abstract chapter 3 1.3.3 Abstract chapter 4 1.4 Statement of co-authorship 2. Timing of external partnerships in low-tech and high-tech firms. When and with whom do collaborations pay off? 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Conceptual framework and hypothesis development 2.2.1 Customer collaboration 2.2.2 Supplier collaboration 2.2.3 University collaboration 2.3 Data and models 2.3.1 Database 2.3.2 Variables 2.3.3 Estimation model 2.4 Results 2.4.1 Descriptive statistics 2.4.2 Results from regression analysis 2.4.3 Robustness checks and extensions 2.5 Discussion and conclusion 2.5.1 General discussion 2.5.2 Managerial and policy implications 2.5.3 Limitations and concluding remarks References chapter 2 Appendices chapter 2 3. Alles F&E? Performanceeffekte phasenspezifischer externer Kooperation in KMU 3.1 Einleitung 3.2 Konzeptionelle Grundlagen 3.3 Theoretische Fundierung phasenspezifischer Effekte 3.3.1 Kooperation mit Kunden 3.3.2 Kooperation mit Lieferanten 3.3.3 Kooperation mit Universitäten 3.3.4 Zwischenfazit und Ableitung von Hypothesen 3.4 Daten und Operationalisierung 3.4.1 Datensatz 3.4.2 Abhängige Variable 3.4.3 Unabhängige Variablen 3.4.4 Kontrollvariablen 3.5 Empirische Strategie und Ergebnisse 3.5.1 Deskriptive Statistiken 3.5.2 Ergebnisse aus den Regressionsverfahren 3.5.3 Robustheitsprüfungen und Erweiterungen 3.6 Diskussion und Implikationen für Forschung und Praxis 3.6.1 Diskussion 3.6.2 Implikationen für die Praxis 3.6.3 Limitationen und zukünftige Forschungsfelder Literaturverzeichnis Kapitel 3 Anhang Kapitel 3 4. Markets for Technology in Europe – Mapping Demand and its Drivers 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Theoretical framework 4.2.1 The size of markets for technology 4.2.2 The nature of demand on markets for technology 4.3 Drivers of demand on markets for technology 4.3.1 Sectoral patterns of innovation 4.3.2 Technological leadership of industries 4.4 Data and Methods 4.4.1 Data 4.4.2 Variables 4.5 Results 4.5.1 Mapping markets for technology 4.5.2 Descriptive results 4.5.3 Regression results 4.5.4 Robustness checks 4.6 Discussion 4.7 Conclusion References chapter 4 5. Summary and concluding remarks 5.1 Contribution to empirical research 5.2 Limitations and future research directions 5.3 Implications for managers and policy makers 5.3.1 Implications for managers 5.3.2 Implications for policy makers Reference list Appendices / Die vorgelegte kumulative Dissertationsschrift umfasst drei unterschiedliche wissenschaftliche Aufsätze, welche sich mit unterschiedlichen Strategien der Beschaffung von unternehmensexternem Wissens befassen. Die beiden ersten Aufsätze untersuchen den Einfluss von Kooperationen mit verschiedenen externen Partnern (Kunden, Lieferanten und Universitäten) auf den Innovationserfolg von Unternehmen. Dazu wird die Kooperation mit den gewählten Partnergruppen in 5 Phasen des Neuproduktentwicklungsprozesses (NPD) (Ideenfindung, F&E, Design, Testen und Prüfen, Markteinführung) untersucht. Beide Aufsätze nutzen repräsentative Daten von deutschen Unternehmen, welche ein breites Spektrum an Branchen umfassen. Gemessene Performanceeffekte sind dabei hochgradig partnerspezifisch. Überdies profitieren Unternehmen je nach eigener Größe und technologischem Umfeld in unterschiedlichen Phasen des NPD-Prozesses von externen Kooperationen. Der dritte Aufsatz untersucht Determinanten der Nachfrage auf sogenannten Märkten für Technologie (MfT). Auf MfT wird unverkörpertes Wissen (insb. in Form von Patenten und Lizenzen) zu einem bestimmten Preis gehandelt. Die Studie beruht auf Daten aus 20 Branchen in 24 europäischen Ländern und liefert nahezu exklusive Evidenzen dafür, welche Faktoren die Nachfrage nach unverkörperter Technologie treiben und beschränken.:I Acknowledgements II Tables III Figures IV Abbreviations 1. Introduction 1.1 Motivation and relevant strands of literature 1.2 Research questions and contribution of the dissertation 1.3 Abstracts of the research articles 1.3.1 Abstract chapter 2 1.3.2 Abstract chapter 3 1.3.3 Abstract chapter 4 1.4 Statement of co-authorship 2. Timing of external partnerships in low-tech and high-tech firms. When and with whom do collaborations pay off? 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Conceptual framework and hypothesis development 2.2.1 Customer collaboration 2.2.2 Supplier collaboration 2.2.3 University collaboration 2.3 Data and models 2.3.1 Database 2.3.2 Variables 2.3.3 Estimation model 2.4 Results 2.4.1 Descriptive statistics 2.4.2 Results from regression analysis 2.4.3 Robustness checks and extensions 2.5 Discussion and conclusion 2.5.1 General discussion 2.5.2 Managerial and policy implications 2.5.3 Limitations and concluding remarks References chapter 2 Appendices chapter 2 3. Alles F&E? Performanceeffekte phasenspezifischer externer Kooperation in KMU 3.1 Einleitung 3.2 Konzeptionelle Grundlagen 3.3 Theoretische Fundierung phasenspezifischer Effekte 3.3.1 Kooperation mit Kunden 3.3.2 Kooperation mit Lieferanten 3.3.3 Kooperation mit Universitäten 3.3.4 Zwischenfazit und Ableitung von Hypothesen 3.4 Daten und Operationalisierung 3.4.1 Datensatz 3.4.2 Abhängige Variable 3.4.3 Unabhängige Variablen 3.4.4 Kontrollvariablen 3.5 Empirische Strategie und Ergebnisse 3.5.1 Deskriptive Statistiken 3.5.2 Ergebnisse aus den Regressionsverfahren 3.5.3 Robustheitsprüfungen und Erweiterungen 3.6 Diskussion und Implikationen für Forschung und Praxis 3.6.1 Diskussion 3.6.2 Implikationen für die Praxis 3.6.3 Limitationen und zukünftige Forschungsfelder Literaturverzeichnis Kapitel 3 Anhang Kapitel 3 4. Markets for Technology in Europe – Mapping Demand and its Drivers 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Theoretical framework 4.2.1 The size of markets for technology 4.2.2 The nature of demand on markets for technology 4.3 Drivers of demand on markets for technology 4.3.1 Sectoral patterns of innovation 4.3.2 Technological leadership of industries 4.4 Data and Methods 4.4.1 Data 4.4.2 Variables 4.5 Results 4.5.1 Mapping markets for technology 4.5.2 Descriptive results 4.5.3 Regression results 4.5.4 Robustness checks 4.6 Discussion 4.7 Conclusion References chapter 4 5. Summary and concluding remarks 5.1 Contribution to empirical research 5.2 Limitations and future research directions 5.3 Implications for managers and policy makers 5.3.1 Implications for managers 5.3.2 Implications for policy makers Reference list Appendices

Im heutigen Zeitalter erwarten Kunden kürzere Produkt- und Dienstleistungsentwicklungszyklen als je zuvor. Unternehmen, die diesem Trend standhalten wollen, müssen folglich auf Innovationen setzen und ihre Innovationsfähigkeit zu einer Kernkompetenz ausbauen. Ein Innovationsprozess, der ein Vorgehensmodell zur Steigerung der Innovationsfähigkeit aufzeigt, beginnt mit der Ideen-generierungsphase. In dieser Phase werden im klassischen Innovationsprozess überwiegend unternehmensinterne Quellen genutzt, um Ideen zu generieren. Tatsächlich werden aber auf dieser Quellenbasis vermehrt Produkte und Dienstleistungen am Kundenbedürfnis vorbei entwickelt. Mit dem Open-Innovation-Ansatz kann eine Verbesserung der Innovationsfähigkeit von Unternehmen durch die Einbindung unternehmensexterner Quellen in den Innovationsprozess erzielt werden. Im Social Web, einer bedeutenden externen Quelle, werden große Mengen an Informationen erzeugt, die für den Innovationsprozess verwendet werden könnten, jedoch werden diese in heutigen Innovationsansätzen nicht oder kaum genutzt. Mit der vorliegenden Arbeit sollen mehrere Beiträge zur Adressierung dieser Problematik geleistet werden. Unter anderem werden etablierte Innovationsprozesse und aktuelle Methoden im Bereich der Ideengenerierung untersucht und miteinander verglichen. Im Rahmen einer Studie werden zudem die Datenstrukturen, Merkmale und Beschaffungsmöglichkeiten von Social-Web-Daten erforscht. Dabei bestätigt sich die These, dass aktuelle Ansätze verfügbare Social-Web-Daten nur rudimentär berücksichtigen. Auf Basis der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse wird darüber hinaus ein generisches Datenmodell entwickelt, das grundlegende Entitäten und Relationen diverser Ausprägungen von Social-Web-Daten abbildet. In diesem Zusammenhang wird aufgezeigt, dass semantische Technologien zur Generierung neuen Produktinnovationswissens überaus nützlich sind. Der Schwerpunkt der Forschungsarbeit liegt daher auf der Nutzung semantischer Technologien zur Verbesserung des Innovationsprozesses, insbesondere im Prozessschritt der Ideation. Die Produkt-, Ideen- und Social-Web-Domäne wird formal in einer neuartigen generischen Ontologie beschrieben, die es erlaubt, axiomatisch auf Basis der Web Ontology Language (OWL) neues Produktinnovationswissen aus dem Social Web zu erschließen und für nachgelagerte Innovationsmanagementsysteme maschinen-interpretierbar bereitzustellen. Anhand einer prototypischen Umsetzung kann die Machbarkeit des eigenen Ansatzes nachgewiesen werden. Dabei wird auch ersichtlich, dass der vorgestellte Lösungsansatz den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinsichtlich der Ideenerkennungsrate übersteigt.

Nutzer bei der Entwicklung und Gestaltung neuer Produkte oder Dienstleistungen zu integrieren, wird seit einigen Jahren unter dem Begriff „Open Innovation“ diskutiert und ist für viele Unternehmen heutzutage selbstverständlich. Ob und wie diese offenen Innovationsprozesse in wissenschaftlichen Organisationen einsetzbar sind, ist bisher wenig erforscht. Dieser Beitrag erläutert am Fallbeispiel eines Lehrstuhls, wie Open Innovation im Rahmen einer strategischen Neuaufstellung eingesetzt werden kann. In vier Phasen erarbeiten die Mitarbeiter auf einer offenen Innovationsplattform die zukünftige Ausrichtung des Lehrstuhls.

Denna studie har utförts på ett försäkringsföretag som har sin verksamhet inom en nischad marknad som erbjuder försäkringar vid nybyggnation av fastigheter. I företaget finns en funktion som har upprättade processer för hantering av externa samarbetspartners, vilken studien har avgränsats till. Med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt har författarna utgått från företagets processer för att sedan teoretiskt underbygga analysen. Författarna har undersökt hur viktig insamling och absorbering av extern information är för värdeskapande. Resultatet av studien visar att insamling av extern information är viktigt och författarna har kunnat framställa en arbetsmodell för att försäkringsföretaget systematiskt ska kunna arbeta med extern informationsinsamling och absorbering för skapandet av värde och innovation. / This study has been conducted with an insurance company in a niche market offering insurances within new construction for real estate. The extent of this research paper has been limited to one of the functions in the company’s operating procedures, involving external collaboration partners’. With a qualitative approach the researchers’ have examined the company’s procedures and analysed it against relevant theories. The researchers’ have investigated the importance of the gathering and absorbing of external information for value-creation. The result shows that the gathering of external information is extremely important and the researchers’ have constructed a business model in order to systematically conduct external knowledge sourcing to create value and innovation.

The innovation ecosystem’s online presence continues to grow with the emergence and maturation of ICT-based platforms. With these new channels, a diversity of actors, including firms, scientists, universities, media entities, and individuals, interact to satisfy their information needs and to access and mobilize network-based resources. This research is among a growing number of social science studies examining the advent of social media and its influence on the innovation process, asking, “How do different types of actors use social media to form network linkages, and what kinds of innovative outcomes will result?” To study this complex network activity, I turn to Twitter, the popular microblogging service, and focus on the case of graphene, a novel nanotechnology material consisting of a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms. Twitter is one of the world’s most often-used social networks, boasting over 500 million users (200+ million active). Graphene, on the other hand, is a relatively well-bounded area of scientific inquiry with ongoing, concurrent scientific and commercialization activity. The primary sample dataset derives from 34 graphene firms’ friend and followers relationships captured in early 2014. Nine interview transcripts supply qualitative data. The results show that network formation on Twitter is not random and that certain actor relationships predict following linkages. A series of network visualizations show that users agglomerate in communities; these communities exhibit greater density than the larger ecosystem network and a propensity to congeal in topically focused ways. That is, each community indicates a coherent topical focus, suggesting that graphene firms follow specific sets of users in ways that support their information and resource needs. At the micro-level, an unstructured text mining approach to operationalizing and computing information distance shows that increasing amounts of topical distance between any two users decreases the likelihood of a tie existing. Are innovation outcomes more likely to occur in strategically-developed and information-rich social media networks? Drawing on different sources of “behavioral additionality” – or changes in behaviors as a result of social media participation – I identify ex-ante several such plausible outcomes, which could include increased awareness, improved problem solving ability, community development, and greater sales. The qualitative results show that social media participation results in increased awareness of graphene and related ecosystem topics, but engagement is a key tactical maneuver that actors pursue, often in varying ways, to access and mobilize other resources. Policy implications are targeted at intermediary institutions and scientists, while management implications focus on high-technology SMEs. Limitations include alternative theories to explaining social media participation and engagement, methodological issues, and the continuing evolution of social media platforms and usage patterns. Future work is considered to address the temporal nature of network construction and topical growth (or constriction), as well as the ability to map areas of science and technology through social media data.

The concept of open innovation is about outsourcing part of the innovation process to external actors and to make use of other resources and knowledge than your own. This is one possible way to meet the challenges that today’s competitive and fast market places on companies. Open innovation has created conditions for open events such as hackathons and through these kind of events, ideas can be generated that companies can use in their business. Outside-in is a perspective of open innovation as a means to integrate external knowledge and ideas into its own operations, and this study takes place in the context of open innovation with an outside-in perspective. The study aims to find how the methods, techniques and tools affects the transition from an idea to an internal project, which results in new products and services. The study is qualitative and data has been collected through interviews with companies which have extensive knowledge of working with innovation. The result of the study shows there is a gap in the transformation of ideas and internal projects, and that there are no systematic approach to the methods, techniques and tools used to facilitate the transformation.

Who provides better inputs to new product ideation tasks: problem solvers with expertise in the area for which new products are to be developed, or problem solvers from "analogous" markets that are distant but share an analogous problem or need? Conventional wisdom appears to suggest that target market expertise is indispensable, which is why most managers searching for new ideas tend to stay within their own market context even when they do search outside their firms' boundaries. However, in a unique symmetric experiment that isolates the effect of market origin, we find evidence for the opposite: Although solutions provided by problem solvers from analogous markets show lower potential for immediate use, they demonstrate substantially higher levels of novelty. Also compared to established novelty drivers, this effect appears highly relevant from a managerial perspective: we find that including problem solvers from analogous markets vs. the target market accounts for almost two thirds of the well-known effect of involving lead users instead of average problem solvers. This effect is further amplified when the analogous distance between the markets increases, i.e., when searching in far vs. near analogous markets. Finally, results indicate that the analogous market effect is particularly strong in the upper tail of the novelty distribution, which again underscores the effect's practical importance. All this suggests that it might pay to systematically search across firm-external sources of innovation that were formerly out of scope for most managers. (authors' abstract)

Uganda’s economy is agro-based; although the country is land locked it has great potential for industrial development. It is well endowed with natural resources and salubrious climate, but with little success in transforming its agricultural and mineral wealth into processed commodities for local, regional and international markets. The Uganda’s National Development Plan 2010- 2014 and Uganda Vision 2040 call for a transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years. To achieve this goal, Ugandan economy needs to be industrialized. This need is one of the identified strategic bottlenecks. Various strategies and action plans have been developed to steer the country’s economy towards sustainable development and increased competitiveness but with little success. It has been recognized globally that economic development depends heavily on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are the prime source of new jobs and play a crucial role in income generation as well as in industrialization processes. However, most small businesses fail within their early stages of operation mainly due to under-capitalization and / or lack of proper management and business skills. Globally, through business incubators, start-ups and SMEs have been significantly enhanced to overcome their initial and critical stages of development. Business incubators have been tried in Uganda but not in a successful way. An Open Innovation Business Incubator is a physical or virtual environment that combines the attributes of open innovation and business incubation concepts in creating and supporting new start-ups. This research aimed at understanding more of the situation in Uganda, how the innovation systems and incubators are managed in other countries and to design a model for how to create better conditions for incubators in Uganda and similar low-income countries and stimulate industrial development. The proposed model has adopted an open innovation approach and a list of suggestions and recommendations has been made. Different methodological tools and participatory approaches were utilized in the process of undertaking the study to achieve the objectives. Data were collected through literature review, analysis of relevant theories such as industrialization, entrepreneurship, science, technology and innovation, business incubation, triple helix and clusters theory, open innovation, and public private partnerships. Review of Government reports and policy documents, discussions with industrial and incubation experts, surveys, focus group discussions and case studies were done. Useful ideas were obtained from seminars and conferences. Research findings indicated that: • There are hardly any graduate incubatees in Uganda, thus there is a need to foster partnerships and synergies between government, private sector/non-government organizations and academia for open incubation, • All incubators in Uganda focus on incubatees developing technologies and products but not on business models , • Open innovation incubators combined with entrepreneurial oriented strategies can effectively support start-ups and SMEs but requires strong mutual trust amongst actors, • Through public-private partnerships and open innovation incubators, industrial transformation can be stimulated.

The open innovation approach has been one of the most discussed topics in innovation management literature in the 2000's. Existing literature on open innovation shows an evolving diffusion of open innovation in certain industries and contexts. Various case studies and theoretical work suggest that the open innovation adoption decision within a company could be triggered by internal and external factors. The goal of this dissertation is to provide comprehensive empirical evidence for the adoption of inbound and outbound open innovation activities in Europe. Furthermore, the thesis will provide empirical evidence for a set of open innovation drivers using primary data from European firms to link the adoption of open innovation with organizational capabilities, characteristics of the market environment, and human resource capabilities. The results will show the current level of open innovation adoption in Europe and its drivers. This could have managerial implications by showing influencing of organizational and human variable on the adoption of open innovation strategies.