Places and spaces of collaborative R&D and innovation: navigating the role of physical and virtual contexts

Abstract

The context in which collaborative R&D and innovation activities take place is a critical driver of success and failure. However, innovation management research tends to often abstract the context away, leaving the crucial contingency factors unaddressed. This special issue explores multifaceted collaborative R&D and innovation contexts across physical and virtual domains. An array of ten articles dissect various contexts, including cross‐sector partnerships, innovation hubs, living labs, makerspaces, and virtual collaboration spaces and communities, highlighting their impact on innovation processes and outcomes. In this editorial, we develop a ‘Collaborative Innovation Space Matrix’ to firstly integrate the insights from the special issue focusing on collaboration dynamics and type of spaces and, secondly, to propose a call for action for innovation researchers to better understand the crucial role of context in collaborative R&D and innovation.