Exploring the Role of Open Innovation Intermediaries

In the era of open innovation, companies that want to innovate can no more remain isolated, they have to interact and collaborate with diverse actors of the innovation process. The rise of open innovation practices resulted in an increase of intermediaries for innovation. This chapter aims to better understand why innovative companies use the services of such intermediaries. Two distinct types of open innovation intermediaries have been identified, whose roles are significantly different; while the first type help companies to reduce transaction costs related to open innovation, the second type may be implicated directly in the creation, transfer and diffusion of knowledge. This chapter illustrates both roles in the case of public research valorization and distinguish clearly “Technology Transfer Organizations” (TTOs), whose role is to reduce transaction costs related to technology transfer from “Research and Technology Organizations” (RTOs) that are actively involved in knowledge creation and transfer processes.