Open innovation from the university to local enterprises: conditions, complexities, and challenges

The paper aimed to analyze the open innovation model from the Latin-American public university and the main factors that influence it. The interaction between the university with its ecosystem, its innovation and technology management, the profile of the academic community, and innovation policies were studied. The research methodology had a qualitative approach. And the process was integrated into three phases toidentify the categories of open innovation, categorized the interaction between the university with the innovation ecosystem in four Mexican public universities, and triangulate the Latin-American behavior through semi-structured interviews to six academics. The main findings showed that open innovation is a feasible platform to link the Latin-American University with local enterprises despite the peculiar heterogeneous and unequal context of the ecosystem; furthermore, four collaborative flows between the university and the ecosystem were identified –inside, outside, mixed and hybrid-. In conclusion, the interdisciplinary approach, the techno-institutional networks, and the institutional policy influence open innovation from the university to the ecosystem, where the academic community is a mediator variable. Finally, it is highlighted that new re-institutionalization of innovation policies based on digital transformation and environmental sustainability are required; thus, Latin-American Schools of Innovation Taught are needed to encourage them.