Universities as sources of information: comparing the role of 'open innovation' and companies' motivations.

The paper investigated the role Universities play as sources of information for companies' innovation. This study compared the explanations proposed by the 'open innovation' literature with those suggested by the 'resource view' of the firm, concluding that the way 'open innovation' variables have been constructed should be questioned and the 'resource view' theory should be augmented with innovation motivations, as companies rely on universities to source knowledge not generally available within companies' technological paradigm.