The role of intangible assets in open innovation processes: a literature review

Purpose – The goal of this paper is to provide a survey of the scientific works existing in literature about the role of Intangible Assets in Open Innovation (OI) processes. This study aims at identifying: 1) the most significant issues addressed by researchers in the field of OI, giving specific reference to Intangible Assets; 2) the main results obtained so far in the field; 3) development and future directions of the research in this area. Design/methodology/approach – We have adopted a methodology that can be split into three separate phases: first, we have retrieved a large set of relevant publications by means of a keyword-based search from a scholar database. Second, we have identified a number of topics dealt within the selected literature. Third, we have created a hierarchical structure by grouping related topics into macro themes using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). Originality/value – OI has become one of the most well-known concepts in Innovation Management studies. As a consequence, a great number of papers have been published in the last few years and several literature reviews have arranged this growing body of literature systematically. Also, a number of authors have underlined the importance of Intangible Assets for the success of OI strategies and the effectiveness of OI processes. This paper represents a first attempt to systematize the existing research on Intangible Assets in OI processes. The paper provides a clearer view of these issues and represents the first step in filling the research gap highlighted above. Practical implications – This paper has a number of implications not only for researchers, but also for practitioners. By means of this systematic literature review, it is possible to understand how firms effectively and efficiently participate in OI processes and how they can leverage their intangible assets to innovate and generate value. This paper tries to provide a more deep insight into the topic of intangible assets in OI by supporting firm managers and researchers in innovation management.