Strategies for cooperation between companies and research organisations in innovation ecosystems - a case study of the German microelectronics and photonics industries

In this paper, we investigate how companies operating in innovation ecosystems address the challenge of integrating the dimensions of knowledge and business into innovation ecosystems. We focus on microelectronics and photonics in Germany as examples of knowledge- and research-intensive industries in which digitisation plays a significant role. In particular, we analyse the cooperation between companies and research organisations. We explore whether and to what extent companies develop different and new strategies for cooperating with research institutions within innovation ecosystems, on the basis of which we identify two ideal types of strategies. While ideal type A is mostly conventional and traditional, aiming towards obtaining specific knowledge in order to further develop a particular technology or product, ideal type B seeks to harness the new and full potential of innovation ecosystems.