Innovation intermediaries in the digital transformation process. A comparative case study of research and technology organisations in the US and the UK

Guendalina Anzolin and Eoin O'Sullivan

Technovation, 2025, vol. 142, issue C

Abstract: Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) are innovation intermediaries that support knowledge transfer between science and industry, with a strong focus on applied research aiming at scaling up technologies characterised by a systemic failure in their pre-production phase. They aim to fulfil the knowledge transfer function embedded in their mission. Recently, there has been a growing literature about RTOs' role, especially in relation to how they respond to the changing innovation and production environment. In this paper, we empirically explore (i) how RTOs' activities are changing as a response to the increasing complexity of manufacturing technology systems, and with a focus on the particular case of digital manufacturing, which demands higher scope for the role of RTOs' activities; (ii) if there is any attempt to align and coordinate such activities with other intermediary actors in the ecosystem. Our analysis reveals that existing activities (mainly technology development) are evolving to respond to new challenges, and new activities are emerging as part of RTOs’ services to firms (e.g., workforce development and, to a lesser extent, supply chain development activities). RTOs face challenges in coordination with other intermediaries; targeted funding can provide the space to experiment with new forms of collaboration.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016649722500032X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:techno:v:142:y:2025:i:c:s016649722500032x

DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103200

Access Statistics for this article

Technovation is currently edited by Jonathan Linton

More articles in Technovation from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().