Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on challenges and facilitating factors of open innovation practices (OIP) implemented by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach The empirical research has been conducted on eight SMEs operating in the ICT sector, through a qualitative approach involving comparative case studies. Findings The findings drawn from the interviews indicate that each OIP established entails specific challenges and facilitating factors that SMEs have to face to sustain the open innovation journey and foster competitiveness. These findings helped to draw some important managerial implications and provide insights to SMEs willing to open innovation processes. Originality/value The study identifies OIP used in empirical studies to explore specific challenges and facilitators for each OIP, in the context of SMEs. Previous studies mostly focussed on open innovation sources and scarcely investigated internal dynamics of specific OIP.