Do open innovation practices in firms promote sustainability?

Innovative technologies hold the promise of a sustainable future. There is tremendous need for innovations that not only create new technologies, but also solve grand challenges this planet faces. The urgent demand for technologies spilling over sustainable values requires innovation that is open and collaborative. However, uncertainty remains whether open innovation actually promotes sustainability. We thus examine a novel perspective on the relationship between open innovation and sustainable value creation at a firm level. We ask whether inbound innovation practices such as university-industry collaboration and intellectual property in-licensing in alignment with firm internal R&D foster sustainability.By applying a multilinear regression model on a sample of Danish firms, we found a positive effect on sustainability when firms innovate based on in-license IP from other firms. But we did not find any correlation between university-industry collaboration and sustainability; however, it turned into a significant negative moderation effect when the firm size was added. Therefore, we conclude that smaller firms are more prompt to develop sustainable technologies, and university entrepreneurship could be a very important impetus for sustainable innovations. We also proved that firm internal R&D activities and development of radical innovations are significant predictors for sustainability. Thus, we conclude that inbound open innovation practices only partly contribute to sustainable value creation. Therefore, we suggest that combination of internal R&D with IP in-licensing and streaming for radical innovation, whether internally developed or in-licensed, should become embedded in the firms'' efforts for sustainability.

Automated summary

Innovative technologies are crucial for a sustainable future, but the impact of open innovation on sustainability is still uncertain. This study examines the relationship between open innovation and sustainable value creation at a firm level, finding that firms innovating based on in-license intellectual property have a positive effect on sustainability. However, there is no correlation between university-industry collaboration and sustainability, and smaller firms are more likely to develop sustainable technologies. Internal R&D activities and development of radical innovations are also significant predictors for sustainability.