Artificial intelligence and open innovation: toward a marketing-oriented framework for collaborative innovation

Over the last two decades, the transition from closed to open innovation has significantly changed the way firms acquire, share, and leverage knowledge. While large enterprises are increasingly combining internal R&D with external sources of knowledge and innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tend to depend more strongly on partnerships, networks, and innovation ecosystems to access complementary resources and capabilities. In parallel, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key technological driver, enabling firms to process knowledge and data more efficiently, support decision-making, and accelerate innovation activities. However, despite the growing attention devoted to both open innovation and AI, their combined role in shaping marketing processes remains insufficiently explored. Against this background, this thesis examines how the integration of open innovation and AI influences and transforms marketing processes across firms of different sizes. In particular, it investigates how organisational, collaborative, technological, and data-driven capabilities interact within increasingly digital and interconnected business environments. The research follows a mixed-methods approach. First, a systematic literature review analyses the evolution of research on open innovation and AI and investigates their intersection in the marketing domain. Second, an exploratory qualitative study based on focus groups with innovation experts in the Lazio region examines how AI applications are perceived and used to facilitate open innovation practices. Third, a quantitative study involving enterprise managers in Lazio investigates the role of AI in transforming marketing activities throughout the innovation process, with specific attention to market sensing, product and value creation, and go-to-market and customer experience. The thesis contributes to the literature by providing a more integrated understanding of the relationship between AI, open innovation, and marketing and by developing a marketing-oriented reinterpretation of the 3×3 framework proposed by Broekhuizen et al. (2023). From a managerial perspective, the findings emphasise that effective AI adoption requires not only technological capabilities but also organisational readiness, data integration, collaboration, trust, and appropriate governance mechanisms. Overall, the study highlights how the convergence of AI and open innovation is reshaping marketing towards increasingly data-driven, collaborative, ecosystem-oriented, and adaptive processes.