Title: Triple helix collaborative innovation and value co-creation in an Industry 4.0 context

Authors: Iqra Sadaf Khan; Osmo Kauppila; Bogdan Iancu; Marko Jurmu; Marko Jurvansuu; Susanna Pirttikangas; Johan Lilius; Mikko Koho; Erno Marjakangas; Jukka Majava

Addresses: Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, 90014, Finland ' Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, 90014, Finland; Quality Technology and Logistics, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden ' Åbo Akademi, Informationsteknologi, Åbo Akademi University, Agora, Domkyrkotorget 3, 20500, Finland ' VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Kaitoväylä 1, 90570 Oulu, Finland ' VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Kaitoväylä 1, 90570 Oulu, Finland ' Centre for Ubiquitous Computing, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Erkki Koiso-Kanttilankatu 3, 90014, Finland ' Åbo Akademi, Informationsteknologi, Åbo Akademi University, Agora, Domkyrkotorget 3, 20500, Finland ' Ponsse Oyj, Ponssentie 22, 74200 Vieremä, Finland ' Nokia Oyj, Kaapelitie 4, 90620 Oulu, Finland ' Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, 90014, Finland

Abstract: Digitalisation and Industry 4.0 promote a fundamental technological disruption that requires industry, research and government institutions to revisit their roles within the innovation ecosystems. Actors in this environment need to understand value co-creation during interaction and collaboration. The purpose of this study is to investigate the triple helix collaborative capabilities in an Industry 4.0 ecosystem context. The case under study is a Finnish national publicly funded research project involving five global manufacturers, three research institutions, and several small-and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The results demonstrate that practices related to adaptivity, experience sharing, SME co-innovation and scale up can enable the ecosystem to be managed in a dynamic way. Yet, this type of operation requires the adoption of the ecosystem approach with mutual trust, intensive collaboration and the identification of common aims among the project participants. The presented co-innovation model can be used to design innovation ecosystem projects in the future.

Keywords: collaboration; capabilities; Industry 4.0; innovation ecosystem; triple helix; value co-creation; small-and medium-size enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2022.125029

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2022 Vol.32 No.2, pp.125 - 147

Received: 15 Apr 2021
Accepted: 12 May 2021
Published online: 23 Aug 2022 *

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