Open innovation at the interorganizational network level – Stretching practices to face technological discontinuities in the semiconductor industry

Previous studies on open innovation have primarily adopted the perspective of single firms. Against this background we explore how open innovation is managed at the network level for the case of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Using a longitudinal case study, we report on how the ITRS deals with a technological discontinuity affecting the whole industry, namely the pursuit of an existing technological paradigm using a well-established collaborative practice set against a novel and unknown future technological paradigm to be opened up in parallel, even though the necessary knowledge about the ensuing disruption is lacking. This challenge is characterized not only by extreme technological uncertainty, but also by partner-related and procedural uncertainty concerning the key activity of ITRS, namely the setting of future technological milestones (roadmapping). We discuss attempts by the ITRS network to overcome these uncertainties and manage technological discontinuities by extending the well-established practice of roadmapping to an unknown technological paradigm. We introduce the concept of ‘stretching practice’ to highlight this phenomenon, and we contribute to the debate on the open innovation and technological discontinuities that arise when venturing beyond firm-centric approaches.

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