Open innovation and the contemporary “innovationism”: a political economy perspective

Abstract

Open innovation is one of those catchwords that has been capturing the imaginaries of our societies, pointing out transformative designs. “Open innovation” is being viewed as “the next word” in innovation studies and management practices. Bibliometric reviews have been revealing that open innovation has spawned special issues, numerous books, and hundreds of papers devoted to proposing this (allegedly) new policy framework. With this bibliographical essay, we give a qualitative review that understands open innovation and the reach of its literature: i.e., the presumptions in place and how an entrepreneurial and management bias marks it, benefiting from announced technological trajectories currently amplified by the digital age and the alleged opportunities of the 4.0 industry.