Open Innovation Strategy of an Early-Stage SME

Leverage of both triple helix stakeholders through open innovation (OI) by early-stage SMEs is an area of inter-organisational collaboration that remains understudied. This chapter seeks to address this gap in the literature by exploring an exemplar case study of an early-stage medical device SME and the role of harnessing the R&D potential of public and private resources through collaborative projects for venture growth and the development of technological disruptive R&D. This study examines the partner resources harnessed, the objectives and nature of these engagements and the enablers/constraints of the SME in leveraging open innovation to advance their technological platform development. The analysis highlights that early-stage SMEs are capable of pursuing an OI strategy to leverage university–industry–government resources and that the breadth of organisational collaborators increases as their capability to manage such collaborative R&D projects increases. Harnessing the potential of these external entities has enabled the SME case to raise the necessary funding, build industrial credibility, and achieve R&D co-creation to progress their disruptive technology closer to market launch and to grow the venture.