Networking for innovation; the role of the virtual in biotech SMEs

This paper aims to understand the ways bio-tech entrepreneurs interact to in their networking activities. We are specifically interested in if, and how, virtual network interactions enhance collaborative incremental innovation in supplier-customer networks. Employing a phenomenological approach, we first conducted participant observation in a small biotech firm as a preliminary study and followed this by 16 in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs of Scottish biotech SMEs. We found that virtual techniques were always used in conjunction with conventional face to face networking. A key finding was that virtual networking is used to complement meetings. Email was used to cement and continue relationships that had already been established by conventional means; or vice versa. Such virtual social interactions contributed to the development and maintenance of network relationships and the generation of collaborative innovation. It appears that virtual networking augments other forms of networking but, in general, cannot replace personal face-to-face networking. Consequently, developing collaborative innovation was not possible by virtual means alone. We argue the reason for this complementarity is explained by the types of knowledge required for collaborative innovation. In essence, tacit knowledge exchange in poorly suited to the virtual environment.