La relation entre intermédiaires de recherche et PME, analyse et impacts

This thesis analyses the links between research intermediaries that have adopted open innovation practices and small and medium-sized enterprises. Open innovation is at the heart of this thesis, but several other concepts are discussed. The most important remain innovation, technological innovation, innovation management, geographic economics, collaboration, intellectual property, the neo-institutional paradigm and the Triple Helix model. The Canadian and Quebec governments have put in place programs that support the creation and management of organisations—research intermediaries—that support businesses. Some of these organizations have decided to adopt the principles of open innovation. The question of Quebec intermediaries who have adopted open innovation practices is rarely addressed in the scientific literature. The main objective of this thesis is to understand and assess the impact of the relationship between research intermediaries and small and medium-sized enterprises in an open innovation context and in the context of an improvement in the performance of companies revolving around these intermediaries. To achieve this, we conducted a multiple case study using semi-structured interviews and public information obtained on the Web. We thus analyzed six cases of Quebec research intermediaries practicing open innovation in order to compare their model and their impact on SMEs. The results show that the creation of intermediaries and how they work depends on different elements of the context in which they develop, such as the government programs that finance them, the presence of stakeholders interested in improving collaboration in the sector, and the needs of the industry. We also found that the relationship between intermediaries and SMEs, contributes to the orientation of projects and the promotion of intermediaries, and provide resources that will be available to other members. This relationship with intermediaries allows SMEs to increase their level of knowledge and facilitate their research processes, and improve their business relationships. Finally, we were able to clarify how research intermediaries can implement open innovation practices and how these practices fit into those of the firms. Among the main contributions of this thesis, let us mention the fact that it allows a better understanding of the roles and importance of research intermediaries working according to an open innovation model in support of SMEs in their innovation approach. This thesis also helps to better characterize companies venturing into open innovation practices, and to better understand the motivations of these firms to work with research intermediaries and to adopt open innovation practices.