Formal and informal innovation networks: a review

Lyubomir Todorov (), Margarita Shopova (), Margarita Bogdanova () and Evelina Parashkevova ()
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Lyubomir Todorov: D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Bulgaria
Margarita Shopova: D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Bulgaria
Margarita Bogdanova: D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Bulgaria
Evelina Parashkevova: D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Bulgaria

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 2024, vol. 12, issue 1, 342-361

Abstract: The paper addressed the important problem of systematization of empirical research in the field of formal and informal innovation networks. After an extensive literature study of 65 papers from 2003-2023, four thematic areas were formed: innovation network creation, structure and participants; innovation network evolution, activities and interactions; factors influencing innovation networks; and results from innovation network activities for the participants and third parties. Besides them, several interesting topics were discovered concerning network-specific structural forms, peculiarities of adaptive management, and the knowledge transfer mechanics of contracting for innovation. The systematization also showed several contradictions in the results and gaps in the empirical research, which outline the need for more studies about the intensity of formal and informal contact between participants and their influence on the transformation, development and sustainability of the networks and the contribution of formal and informal networks to the diffusion of knowledge and innovations.

Keywords: innovation; formal networks; informal networks; survey; empirical analysis; systematization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D85 O31 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ssi:jouesi:v:12:y:2024:i:1:p:342-361

DOI: 10.9770/jesi.2024.12.1(23)

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