Abstract

Over the last decade, significant research has emerged in two areas related to innovation: firstly at the macroeconomic level with the debate on the role and composition of national innovation systems (NIS) and secondly at the operations level with the argument that enterprises must move from ‘closed innovation’ to ‘open innovation’ models. The aim of this paper is to examine a case of the practical implementation of open innovation, i.e. the Innovation Value Institute (IVI). Furthermore, the IVI is a ‘triple-helix’ collaboration between actors drawn from academic, industrial and public service sectors with a focus on one important technology for practitioners and for the region; the management of Information Technology. The paper now proceeds as follows. Firstly, the research context is outlined in terms of the evolving Irish economy. A literature review is then presented from the areas of enterprise innovation models, national innovation systems (NIS) and information technology (IT) governance. Finally, the conclusions, implications for practice, policy and research are outlined together with suggestions for future work.