How the pandemic has changed innovation collaboration in SMEs, as illustrated by four co-innovation projects

Abstract

The recent health crisis has particularly affected small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Some have had to temporarily close their doors. Others chose to innovate by developing new products to take advantage of the situation and survive. However, innovation is a risky strategy, so there are many failures. Innovation collaboration is one way of limiting these failures and increasing the chances of project success. Nevertheless, little is known about SMEs’ innovation collaboration practices in the context of a crisis, and even before the pandemic, and further research is needed. This study aims to understand the innovation process and the collaboration practices adopted by SMEs for their product innovation projects to cope with the pandemic, by comparing their pre-pandemic practices with those implemented at the start of the pandemic. Based on four successful product innovation projects in two different SMEs, our results show that, at the start of the pandemic, collaborations included a larger number of partners, involved in more stages of the innovation process, in order to accelerate the new product development and commercialization, rapidly provide the necessary resources and response to customer needs.