The challenges and prospects of developing an innovation intermediary organization: a case study of Iran

Abstract

This paper aims to design the optimal structure of an innovation intermediary organization and its open innovation platform to facilitate the process of commercialization of inventions as well as establish effective communications between industrialists and researchers and inventors. Even though the issue of creating an open innovation platform and its design was raised in other research, the optimal structure that was extracted from the experience of working in the field of commercialization of inventions in a long-term period has not been done. Using the case study research methodology for seven years (from 2012 to 2018) in seven phases, we studied the obstacles in the way of, and strategies for, the development of the innovation intermediary organization in Iran, and proposed a model for the open innovation platform belonging to this innovation intermediary organization at the end of the 7th phase. The tool for gathering information is the review of open innovation organization documents and semi-structured interviews with 15 experts and managers of this open innovation organization. By categorizing the obtained codes, the intended themes were extracted. Then, Cohen's Kappa coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the obtained codes, the value of which was equal to 0.85, indicating the high reliability of this research. Also, to strengthen the credibility of this qualitative research, environmental observations and analyzed data were used to provide respondents with their opinions. The obtained findings indicate an appropriate structure for the innovation intermediary organization and its open innovation platform to accelerate the identification of the needs of industries, creating solutions for these needs, as well as supporting patents and entrepreneurial plans. In this structure, various components of the innovation ecosystem interact with each other, including universities, research centers, experts, start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs, science and technology parks, and accelerators. The results of the study show that by collaborating with this platform, universities can provide job opportunities for students in various fields. By joining this platform, industries will be able to meet some of their technological needs. Furthermore, entrepreneurs can use this platform to finance their entrepreneurial projects using investors and acquire their required experts.

Introduction

Nowadays, the global economy deals with challenging situations, such as fluctuation, uncertainty, and ambiguity (Hou & Shi, 2021; Liu et al., 2021; Shao et al., 2024). In this situation, organizations need to have a new view of their surroundings to create flexibility in their business (Shen & Sun, 2021). Here, open innovation can be regarded as a suitable approach to reinforce and increase innovation in industries because open innovation is applied as a mechanism to reduce the costs of Research and Development (R&D) and to share risks (Nambisan et al., 2018). In addition, using open innovation in the economic ecosystem can be a basis for economic growth, dynamism, and interaction among the components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (Liu et al., 2021).

Generally speaking, open innovation refers to cooperation and communication between organizations and individuals to develop products and services. In this collaboration, the risks and rewards of research on, or commercialization of, products will be shared among the components that contribute to the innovation (Chesbrough, 2003). In fact, in open innovation, companies can get their required knowledge from other companies, research organizations, educational institutes, local governments, and even directly from the citizens themselves (Santoro et al., 2018; Stojanovic et al., 2021).

Nowadays, open innovation is used in various industries as well as in academic entrepreneurship (Siegel & Wright, 2015) and governmental innovations (Gascó, 2017). The literature has shown the positive impacts of open innovation on patents, product development, and entry into new markets (Baum et al., 2003; Ozer et al., 2013). To organize open innovation processes, "open innovation platforms" are used as infrastructure and instruments (Consoli & Patrucco, 2008). Using the open innovation platform facilitates sharing information, gathering ideas, and identification of experts (Larrinaga et al., 2011). With the advent of technology in recent years, open innovation platforms have become an emerging innovation trend that can change business and social relations through openness, affordances, and generativity (Nambisan et al., 2019). This new trend enables us to use digital technologies for entrepreneurial activities, although there may be some challenges in this way (Kraus et al., 2018).

Accordingly, a variety of open innovation platforms are used to help increase the speed of innovation in organizations. Some of these platforms use the knowledge of experts outside the organization so that they can meet their organizational needs (Melese et al., 2009; Nilsson & Felding, 2015). On the one hand, some platforms create a network of people and companies, trying to bring them together to meet urban issues (Ojasalo & Tähtinen, 2016). On the other hand, some others try to create an ecosystem along with their products and services to create and grow various applications throughout the world. (Ghazawneh, 2010). Consequently, some of the above-mentioned platforms help establish a link between industries and universities to meet the needs of industries (Kilamo et al., 2011). A number of them provide services to entrepreneurs to help them start internet-based entrepreneurship, such as finding investors, forming a professional team for starting a business, and providing advice on the business (Agostinho et al., 2015a, 2015b).

Meanwhile, in the past few years in Iran, several pieces of research have been conducted in the field of open innovation and the design of the open innovation model in Iran's science and technology parks (Bayat et al., 2022), the development of the activities of small and medium enterprises (Babaee Farsani et al., 2018) and also the development of partnership and cooperation between research centers and industries has been discussed (Madhooshi & Kiakajuri, 2018). Despite the previous research studies on open innovation in Iran, a study on the design of the structure of open innovation in the form of an innovation intermediary organization in Iran has not been conducted yet. This study should create a link between the components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Iran that can accelerate the process of commercialization of inventions and research. However, there are few literatures on the efficient structure of open innovation platforms with the approach of establishing effective communication between the components of the innovation ecosystem, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study tries to design and implement the open innovation platform in the innovation ecosystem of Iran as a developing country to fill this gap using the case study methodology.

In particular, the findings of this research identify the existing obstacles to setting up an innovation intermediary organization and provide specific solutions for them. Then, considering these cases, it introduces a suitable structure for open innovation to involve various components of the innovation ecosystem, including universities, research centers, expert forces, start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs, science and technology parks, and accelerators so that it can increase the efficiency of innovative processes and commercialization of inventions. The output obtained in this research can be a good help for other researchers to improve the structure of the open innovation platform, especially in the field of entrepreneurship.

As a result, the research question is: "What is the efficient model for an open innovation that can enhance effective coordination and communication between the components of Iran's innovation ecosystem to help improve innovation and Entrepreneurship in Iran?" Also, what are the potential problems in the process of systematic creation of an open innovation, while companies have no prior experience with this approach? And how can you overcome these problems?

In the present article, we will first discuss the literature review. Then we will explain the methodology of the research and afterward, we will describe the findings and the obtained results. After that, a discussion will be presented and at the end, a conclusion of the research will be presented.

Literature review

Innovation

Generally speaking, innovation is a widely used, widespread concept that is dealt with in innovation management (Patrucco et al., 2022). Technology advancement has paved the way for open innovation processes to get the required knowledge for businesses and governmental and non-governmental organizations (Hizam-Hanafiah & Soomro, 2021; Stojanović et al., 2021).

Open innovation

The open innovation paradigm indicates that organizations seek to attract knowledge beyond the organization's boundaries (inflow) (Dahlander & Piezunka, 2014) to increase the speed of their innovations and also to explore new markets to commercialize their internal knowledge (outflow) (Chesbrough, 2003). In open innovation, a wide range of organizations, including universities, laboratory centers, and innovation intermediaries, work together to commercialize innovations (Nambisan et al., 2018). According to this, open innovation is based on the management of knowledge flow beyond the boundaries of an organization (Bogers et al., 2018), and to create value, various actors need to be engaged (Ramírez-Montoya et al., 2022).

Particularly, open innovation can be studied on two levels: micro and macro. In the long term, there is a need to integrate these two approaches so that sustainable innovation can be obtained (Yun & Liu, 2019). Regarding the micro level, there is an ambidextrous open innovation model in which the nature of the output should be concerned from different aspects, such as products and services (Yun et al., 2021). On the other hand, there are some interactions at the macro level among open innovation systems. These systems are formed with small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) knowledge sharing, closed innovation systems in large firms, and social innovation systems with society engagement (Yun, 2015). Using open innovation, market needs can be better understood, solutions to complex issues can be adopted, and organizational patents can be delegated to others in the form of licenses or invention sales (Chesbrough, 2003; Chesbrough et al., 2006).

Open innovation platform

One of the ways to reinforce open innovation is to implement an open innovation platform (Mazzola et al., 2018). Open innovation platforms play an essential role in the innovation process because they adjust the interaction and participation of stakeholders (Katzy et al., 2013). Using modern technology, open innovation platforms have provided suitable opportunities for capital inflow, employing experts in different fields, and using appropriate, innovative solutions from outside of the company (Cruz & Astudillo, 2020). However, other innovation approaches had no such productivity for companies before (Radenković et al., 2020). The success of a platform depends on the contribution of all the stakeholders in creating value. In this digital platform, there should be enough motivation for stakeholders so that they cooperate and contribute (Kusumastuti et al., 2022).

Previous studies

To conduct the present study, the researchers have reviewed a wide range of articles regarding the application of open innovation platforms. These articles are from different areas, some of which are mentioned as follows:

Francesca Di Pietro et al. (2018) studied the role of crowd equity investors in the success of start-ups through open innovation platforms through a qualitative study of 60 European start-ups. The findings showed that these investors will have a positive impact on the development of the company's products through knowledge, work experience, and access to a network of experts in various fields. Moreover, another study in the same year by Stadler and Chauvet (2018) focused on the open innovation platform used in a bio-refinery in France to develop the bio-economy. The findings of this research show that the participation and cooperation of engineering universities, as well as students in the process of open innovation, leads to the creation and development of ideas with commercialization capabilities in the field of the biotechnology industry, allowing industrial demonstration and feasibility at technology readiness level (TRL) from 5 to 9.

Another research conducted by Nilsson and Felding (2015) concerned the benefits of using open innovation platforms for manufacturers of pharmaceutical compounds and indicated that these manufacturers are more likely to find scientific partners, development partners, investors, or buyers for these compounds utilizing the platforms. In the following year, Ojasalo and Tähtinen (2016) studied an open innovation platform as an intermediary between urban management and external actors in the field of urban needs. In this model, private companies seeking to sell products, non-governmental organizations seeking to perform organizational missions, research institutes seeking to create knowledge, and people interested in improving their city's infrastructures, all act as external actors.

In an earlier study, Melese et al. (2009) studied the cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and academic centers and universities through an open innovation platform. The results of this research indicate that the cooperation of pharmaceutical companies with research centers through open innovation platforms will help cure diseases and increase synergy. In the following year, Ghazawneh (2010) studied the product platform, which is based on the open innovation paradigm. This study deals with the supporting role of open innovation, such as Facebook and Apple, in which governments, companies, and individuals can design and build several thousand applications to host them.

Then, Kilamo et al. (2011) studied a type of open innovation platform that is responsible for communication between industries and students in different universities. The results of the study show that in this platform, students come up with ideas for solving a problem, and these ideas can be combined to provide the ultimate solution.

Furthermore, Chan (2013) studied the open innovation platform created by Singapore's government through a case study on the open data initiatives of the Singapore government. The results of the study indicate that by providing the information of governmental organizations to people, this platform has made it easier to use this information to create and develop applications to improve businesses. One year later, Jasinski et al. (2014) studied the open innovation networks created by a Brazilian company to establish communication with researchers and research institutes. The findings indicate that the company uses social media and blogs to share the company's challenges so that it can interact with researchers to meet these needs.

Subsequently, another two significant studies were published: first, Agostinho et al. (2015a, 2015b) designed an open innovation platform to help Internet-based entrepreneurship. The findings indicate that this platform provides services to Internet entrepreneurs for Internet marketing, team building, E-Branding, and finding investors. Second, Agafitei and Avasilcai (2015) studied a platform aimed at helping a manufacturing company to promote its products using the ideas proposed by its customers. This platform divides the company's needs into different groups and by joining this platform, customers can cooperate with this company to develop new products.

Eftekhari and Bogers (2015) explored an open approach to venture creation—purposefully managing knowledge flows across the venture’s organizational boundary—and its effects on start-ups’ short-term survival, particularly in Iran. They found that ecosystem collaboration, user involvement and an open environment directly influence new venture survival, and that their effects were moderated by the entrepreneurs’ open mindset.

Vakil Alroaia (2023) defined a developed model for small-and mid-sized enterprises in open innovation activities in Iran. The results showed that the factors of this model include the following parameters: product characteristics, inter-organizational factors, and environmental factors. In addition, the most important factors include product characteristics.

Khosropour et al. (2015) investigated the effect of an open innovation approach on technology intelligence application in Iran's aviation industry. They used two standard models, Savioz (2004) for measuring technology intelligence and Hafkesbrink (2010) for measuring the open innovation approach. The results showed that these two elements can be applied exclusively in organization for technology trend analysis and technology or idea acquisition approach.

By reviewing the previous research in this field, we found that there are a variety of platforms designed for open innovation that companies can employ to utilize collective wisdom and various capabilities throughout the world to increase the speed of innovations. Studying and examining the previous research studies in this field shows that nowadays, the concept of open innovation as well as open innovation platforms is used in various industrial fields.

In some previous studies, it was indicated that some of these platforms identify the needs of a particular industry or company and seek to meet them by sharing them with experts and researchers (Jasinski et al., 2014; Melese et al., 2009; Nilsson & Felding, 2015). In these three studies mentioned above, the researchers only examined the way these applications work and provided a descriptive review of the current state of open innovation in the associated industries. The challenges and obstacles in the activity of these applications have not been examined in these studies.

In another research, it was found that some other open innovation platforms are responsible for establishing a link between students and industries (Kilamo et al., 2011). This research has only used the creative capacity of students as a neglected resource in response to the needs of the industry. In fact, in this research, an analysis of the output of this application and how students' ideas are used in the products of the company has not been presented.

Also, it was investigated in another research that some others try to create an ecosystem along with their products and services to create and grow various applications throughout the world. FACEBOOK, Twitter, and Apple are good examples of such platforms (Ghazawneh, 2010). In this research, the author has only explained the use of the platform in the category of open innovation and has limited himself to mentioning a few practical examples to emphasize the concepts expressed.

In another research, it was investigated that other platforms create a network of people and companies and try to bring them together to meet urban issues. This qualitative explorative study is based on data from in-depth interviews with participants from city governments and other organizations (Ojasalo & Tähtinen, 2016). This research properly shows the proposed model among the components of open innovation to solve urban problems and indicates the types of communication in the application of open innovation in the urban area. However, in this research, the upcoming obstacles have not been investigated and the proposed model has not been fully tested.

There are also governmental platforms that try to provide a suitable platform for launching start-ups by providing governmental information gathered from various organizations (Chan, 2013). In this research, there is a lack of statistical analysis of the number of businesses launched using this database. The rate of success and the performance of this application have not been investigated and only the importance of using governmental information in the open innovation process has been mentioned.

Finally, some platforms advise entrepreneurs to obtain the capital that they need, to evaluate the business model, and to find experts (Agostinho et al., 2015a, 2015b). The present research seeks to solve the problem of financing entrepreneurs to start new businesses using the capacity of the open innovation platform. However, in this research, there is a lack of providing a solution on how to interact with each of the financial providers, such as business angels, banks, etc. The realization processes of such matter could be designed in this research to be more useful for the audience.

By reviewing the previous research in this field, we found that there is a lack of efficient models for open innovation platform whose task is to establish coordination and communication between the components of the innovation ecosystem to accelerate the identification of different industries' needs, to create solutions for these needs, and to fully support the ideas, inventions, and entrepreneurship plans.

An open innovation platform in Iran's ecosystem faces a lot of problems and obstacles at the beginning of the work and during its development. Many companies do not know the benefits of such platforms and how to interact with them. Also, those inventors who refer to it do not have a professional view of the services provided to them, and they do not have a long-term view of the way of cooperation; they are immediately looking for the final result. In addition, investors in projects do not understand the position of an innovation intermediary well and look for direct communication with inventors. Therefore, the components of the open innovation ecosystem are sometimes like separate islands, and the need to create a link between them is felt. This study has been conducted using the case study methodology to fill the gap, especially in developing countries.

Methodology

A case study is a research methodology, typically seen in social and life sciences. A case study can be defined as an intensive study about a person, a group of people, or a unit, which is aimed to generalize over several units (Heale, 2018).

Case studies commonly explore, describe, or explain the subject under investigation and create holistic, meaningful knowledge, arising from the context and understanding of life events. Case studies can also be used to study or analyze common or rare phenomena (Luck, 2006). According to Avery (2011), the important steps to conduct a case study include determining the case, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting data, and reporting findings.

Case study research typically includes multiple data collection techniques and data are collected from multiple sources. Data collection techniques include interviews, observations, questionnaires, and relevant documents (Hollweck, 2015).

The research philosophy of this research is ‘Pragmatism’. Pragmatics recognize that there are many different ways of interpreting the world and of conducting research, that no single point of view can give the whole picture, and that there may be multiple realities (Saunders et al., 2012).

In this research philosophy, the practical results are considered important (Lancaster, 2005).

Our approach in the present research is inductive since we are exploring an area for new approaches. This research has a longitudinal time horizon, from 2012 to 2018. Our methodological choice in this research is qualitative and multimethod.

The method of gathering information has been multiple sources, such as observation, interviews, documents related to the subject, and inventors' patents. Also, data analysis has been done using the thematic analysis method.

To collect information, we conducted some interviews with the managing director (CEO), three members of the board of directors, four managers, and seven experts of the company. Also, all the necessary documents were provided by the Balanced Development of Iranians (Tose’e Motavazene Iranian) Company.

In this method, all the basic concepts obtained from the documents as well as interviews and observations were extracted and coded.

Considering that the researcher was part of the open innovation design and development team in the company, the observation tool was very useful. Also, from 2012 to 2018, he was constantly in touch with the interviewees and there was a good opportunity to have a detailed analysis of the documents.

Then by categorizing these concepts, the considered themes were extracted. Afterward, the obtained data were presented in the form of seven phases from 2012 to 2018. Each phase examines the company's key activities in one year.

Establishing reliability in quantitative research and coding methods is one of the requirements of this analysis method. Impartiality is inherent in the definition of reliability because it refers to a fundamental truth that has been evaluated and determined by different and trained evaluators, and one person's analysis of qualitative data should generally be obtained by another analyst who is also familiar with the research question and process. In other words, the desired phenomenon has an external existence and repeatability independent of the coders, and this indicates the consistency and the replicability of the research and one of the principles of the analysis method (Hammer & Berland, 2014).

To measure the reliability of the extracted concepts, a comparison of the opinions of two experts was used and their agreement was measured by a coefficient called Cohen's Kappa coefficient. The value of this numerical coefficient is between zero and one, and the closer it is to one, the more reliable it is. Cohen's kappa index obtained is equal to 0.85, which is higher than 0.6 and indicates the high reliability of this research.

Also, to strengthen the credibility of this qualitative research, the following methods were used:

• In addition to collecting interviews, the researcher used environmental observations and existing documents and thus improved the level of authenticity.

• Presenting the analyzed data to the respondents to know their opinions.

• Consideration and accuracy of the researcher in formulating questions and managing the interview process.

• Researcher reviews during data collection and information analysis (Riege, 2003).

Design & implementation

Pre-step

In the pre-step stage, the purpose of the research should be specified. At this stage, the collaborators with whom the research is conducted are also specified (Coghlan, 2019). In the box below, a narrative from the pre-step stage is presented which indicates the researchers' decision to conduct the case study.

Researcher & Reflexivity	One of the two authors of this article currently has a PhD in entrepreneurship. In 2012, while studying for a master's degree in physics in Iran, the author registered a patent in the automotive industry in collaboration with one of his professors. They did a series of measures and negotiations to establish links with Iran's car manufacturer. However, due to the lack of effective communication between industries and inventors in Iran, the inventors could not even introduce their inventions to these car companies. Meanwhile, the main idea of the research, which is to design and establish an organization to help facilitate the process of commercialization of inventions and also to establish effective communication between industries, researchers, and inventors, was formed
Context of Core Project	Given the high cost and the infrastructures needed for designing and establishing an organization with the approach of helping to establish effective communication between inventors and industries, the authors entered into negotiations with the "Tose'e Motavazene Iranian (Balanced Development of Iranians)" holding, as a developmental complex in Iran, to implement this plan. After presenting the entire plan to, and holding several meetings with, the senior managers of the holding, the board of directors agreed to establish a company called "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian (Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea)" to help facilitate the process of commercialization of inventions in Iran. Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea started its activity as a subsidiary of Balanced Development of Iranians Holding
Collaborators	According to the agreement with the CEO of the "Tose'e Motavazene Iranian" holding, it was decided that the CEO, the board of directors, and all employees of the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company will collaborate with the authors, and their duties and collaboration with the authors were specified. The authors recorded all the key and influential events in designing the company's activities and compiled them in seven phases between 2012 and 2018 In this research, interviews were conducted with the managing director (CEO), three members of the board of directors, four managers, and seven experts of the company to collect the required information. Also, Tose'e Motavazene Iranian Company provided the researchers with all the documents needed to conduct the research

Main steps

The main steps consist of several cycles, each of which includes "Constructing problem", "Planning action", "Taking action", and "Evaluating action". "Constructing problem" includes a detailed statement of the situation and the problem with collaboration with other project partners. "Planning action" includes planning to solve the problem. "Taking action" includes measures taken to implement the approved programs. "Evaluating action" examines the obtained results and compares them to what was planned at the beginning. (Nzembayie et al., 2019).

Findings

Figures 1 through 7 show a summary of important and key events in these 7 phases of the case study in this study.

Fig. 1

Initial steps toward the development of the company.

The first phase of the case study

Figure 1 shows the events that have taken place in the first phase of the case study. These events are mainly about the original idea of establishing the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company and the initial steps toward the development of the company.

The second phase of the case study

Figure 2 shows the events that occur in the second phase of the case study. These events include planning for the company's effective communication with universities and research centers to get familiar with their inventions with a high degree of innovation as well as their research achievements.

Fig. 2

The second phase of the case study

The third phase of the case study

Figure 3 shows the events related to the third phase of the case study. Given that most of the inventions and industrial research done in the previous phase required financial and intellectual support to complete the prototypes of their products, the third phase was designed to meet the needs. The events in this step include establishing links between the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company with science and technology parks so that the inventors can use the facilities of these centers to complete and build their prototypes to produce their products, sell the patents, or for any other use of the inventions.

Fig. 3

The third phase of the case study

The fourth phase of the case study

Figure 4 shows the events related to the fourth phase of the case study. Given that a significant number of the inventions in the previous phase required significant financial resources, the fourth phase of the case study was formed to meet the need. The events of this phase are aimed at identifying business angels, venture capital funds, banks, and other organizations that support inventors to establish links between them and the company to acquire financial resources to complete and prepare inventions to make a profit from the inventions. By preparing a suitable platform, the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company set the scene for negotiations between inventors and investors to acquire investment.

Fig. 4

The fourth phase of the case study

The fifth phase of the case study

Figure 5, the fifth phase of the case study (Figure 5), shows the fifth phase of the case study. Since most inventors do not have a consistent and specialized team in the fields of technology, finance, and marketing, the fifth phase of the case study was formed to meet the need. This phase includes planning and employing experts to help inventors in the form of start-ups. These experts, in the form of a team, use their skills to help market the products that can be marketed. Inventors need a consistent team with relevant skills in launching start-ups to make money from their inventions. Developing strategies, preparing business plans and business models, legal work to register a company, and related technical engineering skills are some of the requirements for a team to succeed

Fig. 5

The fifth phase of the case study

The sixth phase of the case study

Figure 6 shows the sixth phase of the case study. In the fifth phase, the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company, while consulting and negotiating with industries and companies to provide and sell inventions to them, realized their other technological and technical needs. This led the company to try to meet these needs. The sixth phase shows the measures taken to assess the needs of different industries. The "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company realized the assessment of industries' needs as a major step to direct the research activities of inventors and researchers. This led inventors to use their power and energy to meet the industries' needs.

Fig. 6

The sixth phase of the case study

The seventh phase of the case study

Figure 7 shows the seventh phase of the case study events. This phase includes the design and implementation of an open innovation platform for the company's activities on this platform. An open innovation platform is a good option for the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company for optimal management of activities and actions that lead to the commercialization of inventions. Using this platform, all activities of the "Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian" company were organized on the Internet, leading to significant financial and time-saving.

Fig. 7

The seventh phase of the case study

Results

Different parts of balanced development of Iranians’ idea company which functions as an open innovation platform

With the development of activities of Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea company, various departments were formed in the company, each of which has specific duties. Over time, the company concluded that to increase the efficiency of its activities and also increase the speed in responding to the needs of inventors, it was necessary to carry out the activities of these departments in the form of an open innovation application.

This open innovation platform consists of 4 departments, a round table, and a management unit, each with its duties and functions. Figure 8 illustrates this model for the open innovation platform. In the following, we will explain each part of the innovation platform.

Fig. 8

The model for the open innovation platform which was obtained by analyzing the validity of the obtained case study data

Department A: relationships between industries and universities.

The employees of Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea Company, when they were busy negotiating and signing contracts with factories to sell inventions to them, during the visits to the industries and also the meetings, noticed other technological needs in these industrial complexes. This caused the company to analyze the needs of different industries. On the other hand, Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea Company had started communication with universities long ago to commercialize their research activities. Therefore, the needs assessment of the factories created a suitable opportunity to send these needs to the universities and provided the field of joint activity intending to use the knowledge and the experiences of professors and students to solve the problems of the industry. This action caused some research activities to be carried out in universities to solve the problems in Iran's industry.

Given the capacity of universities and research centers to meet some of the needs and issues in the industry, department A was established to facilitate communication between industries with universities and research centers.

In this section, using the open innovation platform, the needs of industries are shared with university professors, students, and researchers in research centers to review them and present possible solutions. The models for partnership between universities and industries are diverse. A company can contract with one or more researchers or with one or more universities or research institutes for research projects and fund several research projects. Another form of participation is where a set of companies conduct joint research activities with a set of universities (Melese et al., 2009). Furthermore, the industries' needs can be defined in the form of a thesis for higher education students, and the students and their advisors will be funded by these industries.

One of the challenges that this department is planning to solve is constructive interaction and cooperation with universities outside Iran. Because of many of the needs in Iran's industries, solutions have been created by universities outside Iran, and the capacity of universities outside Iran should be used in the best way.

Department B: selling patents and transferring technologies

While examining the inventions made in Iran, Balanced Development of Iranians’ Idea Company came to the fact that inventions are registered annually by companies and also inventors in Iran, only a small percentage of which are used due to the lack of proper communication between the components of Entrepreneurial ecosystem in Iran. To help the commercialization of these inventions, Balanced Development of Iranians’ Idea Company established a department that identifies commercialization-capable inventions that were made in the country's scientific research centers, companies, or by ordinary people, and introduces it to industrial centers and related companies for which it was possible to use this technical knowledge. This department tries to use the research achievements in the country in the best way in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

By linking companies and start-ups, Department B enables them to use each other's products, technical knowledge, and patents for their benefit. Also, in this way, start-ups will be able to improve their economic growth and create long-term cooperation with large industries by selling their knowledge and products to other companies and industries.

Furthermore, in Department B, universities and research centers will be able to share their knowledge and patents with the companies and start-ups that need them and generate a good income for their future activities besides meeting some of the technological needs of industries.

In open innovation platforms, companies can benefit from technology trading revenues through licenses or technology transfer. Most patents are the product of R&D activities by the companies and selling them to other companies can increase their income (Xia et al., 2013). Due to the high cost of research and development in large companies, many of these companies have realized that they must cooperate with small companies or generally, other companies, to gain access to the latest innovations, so that they can reduce their research and development costs (Melese et al., 2009). Open innovation platforms allow for the establishment of links between start-ups, SMEs, and large companies to perform joint investments and conclude trade agreements for developing new products (Stadler & Chauvet, 2018).

One of the issues that Department B has been currently facing and is planning to solve is the transfer of technical knowledge and consulting services from industrial centers outside Iran to industrial centers inside Iran. Because various technical needs inside Iran need a lot of money to meet, while some of these needs can be met by collaborating with reputable industries abroad and spending less money. The findings obtained from this part of the research are in line with the findings of Jasinski et al. (2014), Melese et al. (2009), and Nilsson and Felding (2015). In addition, it provides an optimized and operational structure that provides innovation intermediaries with how to collaborate to transfer technology and sell inventions.

Department C: providing expert personnel

Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea company, during its interactions and negotiations with inventors to sell their invention patents, realized that many inventors desire to launch start-ups in their specialized field to earn money from the inventions and technical knowledge they have achieved. However, many of these inventors cannot achieve it due to the lack of access to experts in business-related fields. On the other hand, during their joint activities with some universities in the country, the employees of the company noticed a huge capacity of university graduates who are looking for jobs related to their specialization. Therefore, department C through cooperation with some universities and also through calls on social networks, identified graduates interested in cooperation in entrepreneurial projects, research projects, and activities in companies. It tries to connect them to the fields of work in which they specialize through the communication networks it has and using the open innovation platform of this company.

One of the uses of open innovation platforms is to bring experts together to work together (Kilamo et al., 2011). Human capital is the most important resource in innovation community networks (Xia et al., 2013).

A function of Department C is to introduce expert personnel to industries, companies, universities, and research centers for full- or part-time jobs. With its database of experts in various fields, this platform can be a bridge between these people and industries and scientific centers so that they can use people with rich scientific and technical capacities. In the research of Kilamo et al. (2011), only the role of using the capacity of experts in different fields is mentioned. However, in this research, an operational model that can be used in the innovation ecosystem is presented as well.

Department D: supporting entrepreneurial activities

Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea Company, during its several years of activity, found the lack of effective communication and trust between inventors and investors as one of the most important reasons for the non-commercialization of inventions. Considering that a significant number of inventions and research projects need financial support for commercialization and entering the market, Department D was formed to respond to these needs. "Balanced Development of Iranian Idea" company negotiated with business angels, venture capital funds, and banks to provide financial resources needed by start-ups. In fact, by preparing a suitable platform and through the open innovation platform that it has, this company created the conditions for inventors to negotiate with investors to invest in these inventions.

Also, during its activity, this company realized that some inventors have not completed the prototype of their product and therefore they need various support to complete the prototype of their invention. So Department D cooperated with science and technology parks, accelerators, and incubators intending to use the facilities of these centers for inventors.

Using open innovation platforms, entrepreneurs can develop their business ideas using crowd mining as well as experts (Agostinho et al., 2015a, 2015b).

One of the issues that Department D feels the need for and is planning for the future is cooperation with licensed institutions in the field of crowdfunding. In fact, in its future plans, Balanced Development of Iranians' Idea company can identify and evaluate plans and inventions capable of commercialization and introduce eligible designs for crowdfunding to companies licensed to operate in this field.

The possibility of using the capacity of the open innovation platform by entrepreneurs was mentioned in Agostinho et al. (2015a, 2015b). But the obstacles and challenges that must be overcome to achieve this goal, as well as how to overcome them, were not mentioned. To achieve this goal, the findings of this research proposed an optimal model that can overcome the obstacles identified using this model.

Coordination unit

In this unit, the representatives of different departments work to exchange work-related information that may be necessary to continue the activities of other departments. The necessary decisions that require joint meetings between these departments are also made in this unit. The members of this unit include managers and representatives of Departments A, B, C, and D, and also the management of the company.

Management

The management of the company is responsible for setting policies, assigning tasks, and monitoring other parts of the company. Other departments are also required to report their performance to the management regularly.

Discussion

This study aimed at discovering a structure that is required to create an open innovation platform with the approach of commercialization of ideas and inventions, which was created using case study methodology within seven years and in seven phases.

In the first phase of the case study, we found a direct relationship between the innovation level of inventions with the education level and the academic background of their inventors, and inventions with an academic research team were more likely to be commercialized. According to the research question, one of the identified problems was the lack of high academic knowledge of some inventors, which was one of the challenges of commercializing their inventions and had an impact on the level of innovation.

In the second phase of the case study, we concluded that the inventions with a completed prototype will most likely be able to attract the attention of industries. In this phase, the second challenge that was re-identified in the path of innovation was the failure to complete the prototype, which was not mentioned in previous research. Identifying this obstacle helped to complete the open innovation structure design.

In the third phase of the case study, we found that it is necessary to establish links between innovation intermediaries with science and technology parks, incubators, and accelerators so that unfinished inventions and designs can benefit from the financial and intellectual potentials of these centers. This is in accordance with the findings of these research: Agostinho et al. (2021); Santoro et al. (2018); Stojanovi et al. (2020). In response to the research questions, the next obstacle that was identified in the direction of non-commercialization of inventions was the lack of effective communication between inventors with science and technology parks, accelerators, and incubators. This was due to the fact that inventors could not use their facilities and networks efficiently. This issue caused this point to be taken into consideration in the design of the open innovation platform to optimize the structure of this open innovation platform.

In the fourth phase of the case study, we pointed out the necessity of identification of business angels and venture capital funds for innovation intermediaries to persuade them to invest in inventions. This is consistent with the results of researchers such as Di Pietro et al. (2018); Gilmore et al. (2013). To complete the answers to the research questions, one of the important obstacles found in this research in the way of commercialization of inventions is the weak communication between inventors and investors. In some cases, the two parties do not know each other, causing a lack of trust, and to solve this problem, a third party must act as an intermediary link. Here, the innovation organization plays the role of an intermediary link. This issue is one of the cases that have been mentioned less in previous research and no optimal solution has been presented for it. This important point was taken into account in the design of the optimal structure of open innovation by Tose'e Motavazene Ideye Iranian Company, and a department was designated for it in this company.

In the fifth phase of the case study, we found the necessity of identifying experts in the field of starting and developing businesses through innovation intermediaries and introducing them to inventors. Those inventions with a consistent team specialized in starting businesses were more likely to attract investors. In response to the research question about the problems of developing open innovation in Iran, one of the important findings of this study is the need for effective communication between inventors and business experts. In this way, they can form a suitable structure to create a business and prepare its preliminaries, such as designing a business plan and other required items. This issue was considered in the optimal design of the structure of the open innovation platform by Tose’e Motavazene Iranian Company.

In the sixth phase of the case study, we found the necessity of conducting a needs assessment study on industries by innovation intermediaries to meet these needs using the knowledge available in other companies and universities. It was found that the needs assessment study directs research activities to meet these needs. This is in line with the findings indicated in the research done by Jasinski et al., (2014). A problem identified in this research is the weakness in assessing the needs of industries and communicating those needs to academic circles and relevant researchers. In response to the third research question, properly organized communication between this innovation organization and some industries was formed and a special department in the organization assumed this responsibility, which is connected with industries and universities through physical and virtual presence.

In the seventh phase of the case study, we found the necessity of using open innovation platforms to better manage and increase the efficiency of innovation intermediaries and reduce their costs. Despite the fact that in other research, the issue of creating an open innovation platform and its design was raised Katzy et al., (2013) and Nham (2022), an optimal structure that is extracted from the experience of working in the field of commercialization of inventions in long term has not been done. In response to the research questions, the obstacles to the development of open innovation were identified and the optimal model of the structure of open innovation was presented.

In Fig. 8, the open innovation platform model is presented, which has been designed through the analysis of case study data.

The findings also indicate that the innovation platform needs to have some intangible elements, such as confidence, learning, and clear goals (Buerkler, 2013). To achieve this, the management unit is redesigned in this innovation platform. The existing literature emphasizes the role of management in the innovation platform (Gatzweiler et al., 2017), including support throughout the process of open innovation (Brunswicker & Hutschek, 2010). Furthermore, it is indicated that responding to complaints and dissatisfactions is essential (Parjanen & Rantala, 2021). To achieve this, the management unit is redesigned in this innovation platform.

With passing the “Leap of Knowledge-based Production” law in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) of Iran, it became possible for companies to pay part of their research and development costs from their tax base. So, this action can be a great help in involving many components of the Iranian entrepreneurial ecosystem through this open innovation platform and other platforms in Iran. In addition, due to the relatively fast movement of various organizations toward the digital economy in Iran, it became possible for this platform to partially focus on this field and play a role.

Conclusion

An important existing issue in the field of innovation, especially in Iran, is that the effective way to connect the components of the innovation ecosystem, particularly in Iran, had not yet been properly achieved, and there were various obstacles to achieving this goal. Therefore, the concept of open innovation has not been used optimally. This research was formed to answer this gap that has not been addressed so far. This research was conducted to design an appropriate and optimal structure of an open innovation platform to meet this need.

Using case study methodology, it was investigated in this research that problems may occur in the process of systematic creation of an open innovation platform. This platform aimed at helping to facilitate the commercialization of inventions and also creating an effective relationship between craftsmen and researchers, while companies had no prior experience with this approach. A range of problems and opportunities were re-identified during the process of designing and developing this innovation platform, which led to more effective performance of the open innovation platform.

In this study, given the need to strengthen the relationship between the components of Iran's innovation ecosystem, we realized the necessity of utilizing innovation intermediaries. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to find an efficient model for an innovation intermediary as well as its open innovation platform in Iran's innovation ecosystem that can strengthen the relationship between various components of the innovation ecosystem. Using a 7-year case study, this research has succeeded in finding a suitable structure for an innovation intermediary aimed at involving various components of the innovation ecosystem including universities, research centers, experts, start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs, science and technology parks, and accelerators in increasing the efficiency of the production of innovative products and services. The steps taken to complete the innovation intermediary structure were demonstrated in 7 case study phases.

One of the obstacles to the development of open innovation in Iran was the lack of correct assessment of the needs of industrial centers and having a superficial view of this category. In addition, the owners of industries were not aware of how to use the capacities of other experts to respond to their technological needs. In this research, this issue was also addressed and a suitable structure was found to answer it.

The relationship among industries, research centers, and universities to meet the technological needs and the associated problems is significant in open innovation platforms. This platform is responsible for facilitating the relationship between the industry and the university. In this regard, the needs of the industry can be defined in the form of theses in postgraduate education as well as research projects, and professors and students can be financed by these industries. Industries can increase the number of generated innovations through cooperation with universities (Melese et al., 2009; Spencer, 2001). Weak communication between small and medium companies with other companies to support each other's activities was also identified as one of the obstacles to the development of open innovation, which was addressed in this research, and mutual communication was designed to answer this issue.

Another component of this open innovation platform is building a relationship between companies and start-ups to use each other's products, technical knowledge, and patents. In this way, companies will be able to increase their income by selling their knowledge and patents (Xia et al., 2013; Siegel & Kenney, 2018). The lack of proper recognition of the capacity of university graduates by industries has created the problem that industries cannot use this capacity properly. This problem was seen in the optimal design of the structure of the open innovation platform and a suitable solution was considered for it.

Introducing expert workforces to industries, companies, and research centers to employ them full-time or part-time and use their scientific and technical capacity is one of the other components of this platform. One of the applications of the open innovation platform is to bring experts together and create joint collaboration between them (Kilamo et al., 2011). Having a database of expert people, this platform is a bridge between these people and the industry and scientific centers.

In this platform, entrepreneurs can communicate with investors and cooperate and participate in case of understanding. Many investors have financial resources, experience in the field of launching entrepreneurial activities, and a network of experts to launch a startup (Huang & Knight, 2017).

Innovation platforms highlight the role of networks in innovation processes and show that organizations rely heavily on their interaction with users and a wide range of other organizations in the innovation system (West, 2010).

Also, the results show that using the open innovation platform in the Internet space creates new ideas and products for companies, and sharing information with others reduces risk, increases the speed of decision-making, and makes it easier to have access to innovative resources. This finding is in line with the result of the (Harmaakorpi, 2004).

These findings indicate that the open innovation platform needs to have some intangible elements, such as confidence, learning, and clear goals (Buerkler, 2013). To achieve this, the management unit is redesigned in this innovation platform.

This open innovation platform is responsible for strengthening the links between industries and universities, facilitating technology transfer and selling of patents, providing the skilled staff needed for industries and start-ups, as well as supporting entrepreneurial projects to reach the desired result.

Theoretical implications

Using the findings of the research, an optimized model of open innovation was obtained, which connects the components of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem appropriately.

In this model, connecting business experts to inventors can have a significant impact on accelerating the commercialization of inventions.

Also, one of the important components of this model is the relationship between entrepreneurs and investors and inventors, who can use the financial resources of investors and the achievements of inventors to start innovative businesses.

The next contribution of this research is to use the capacity of science and technology parks and other centers such as accelerators to support inventors so that with the help of the resources of these institutions, inventors can prepare their prototypes and then they can negotiate with investors through this platform.

According to the obtained results, the open innovation platform can be used for production with better competitive advantage and more efficiency.

Practical implications

This model has several practical implications. Currently, there are several established innovation intermediaries in Iran without any high performance. According to the model obtained in this study, innovation intermediaries can use this model to strengthen their efficiency and performance.

Furthermore, the support of this open innovation platform by the government, which has a significant number of organizations with various specialized needs, enables the quick meeting of those needs, and corruption in government organizations in this area will be reduced given the transparency of the processes.

Besides, universities can cooperate with these platforms to create employment opportunities for graduates and students in various industrial fields. Also, the cooperation of universities and industries can lead to theses for higher education students to meet the industry's needs.

By joining these platforms, industries will also be able to meet some of their needs by transferring knowledge and technology and buying patents. Also, craftspeople can benefit from the capacity of those investors who are interested in these projects in order to develop their activities. In addition, inventors and researchers can carry out research projects and register new patents according to the technological needs of craftspeople. On the other hand, investors can use the capacity of this platform to invest on the ideas presented on the platform as well as existing industrial projects.

Furthermore, entrepreneurs, as one of the most important factors for economic growth in Iran, can finance their entrepreneurial projects through investors and attract the experts they need through this platform, which leads to the faster development of innovative products and services and creates job opportunities.

Future work

Given the important role of schools in nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs, it is suggested that future research focuses on the role of schools and the impact of students' involvement in value creation through open innovation platforms. It is also suggested that future research will study the impact of the participation of a network of open innovation platforms on the degree of support for the production of innovative products and services and design a model for such platforms.