Empowering openness: the case of CROs–related innovation networks in the Italian bio–pharmaceutical sector

The present work focuses on the study of healthcare networks as key tool for innovation creation and spreading, by deploying the emergent paradigm of Open Innovation. The study analyses the organisational methods through which bio-pharmaceutical companies open their innovation processes and enter into a relationship with external subjects called Contract Research Organizations (CROs) for the exchange of technology and knowledge. The paper describes the results of a survey conducted in the Italian bio-pharmaceutical sector, which showed how the high potential of Italian CROs has yet to be fully expressed, and outlining the ways through which the logic of openness is being exploited in the Italian context. The paper also tries to give some insights to the existing research on Open Innovation, studying the adoption of this approach in an industry where the adoption and implementation of openness-driven practices has been so far rather under-researched.