Intellectual Capital in R&D Management: elucidating the connection

This editorial introduces a special issue investigating the relationship between Intellectual Capital (IC) and Research and Development (R&D) management, emphasizing its impact on innovation and competitiveness. It synthesizes findings from four studies in a special issue on "Intellectual Capital and R&D Management." The studies in the special issue reveal how IC can contribute to innovation performance and technology diversity. Additionally, the degree of servitization in R&D ecosystems moderates the link between relational capital and innovation performance. Implications for R&D management include strategies to enhance IC, integrate it into R&D strategies, invest in human capital, and adopt an intellectual portfolio perspective. Future research directions include exploring IC in ecosystems, digital technologies, sustainability, open innovation, and innovation under global disruption. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of IC's role in R&D management and calls for further research to explicitly address this relationship.