This  study  is  motivated  by  the  question  how  resource  scarce  innovative entrepreneurial  companies  seek  and  leverage  global  resources.  This  study takes   a   resource-seeking   perspective   a   step   forward   and   suggests   that resources   that   enable   the   entrepreneurial   internationalisation   are   largely accrued  from  the  early  stages  of  entrepreneurial  life;  that  is  from  the  innovation development. Consequently, this study seeks to explain how innovation and   internationalisation   processes   are   interrelated   in   the   entrepreneurial internationalisation. This main objective is approached through three research questions,  (1)  What  role  do  inter-organisational  relationships  in  innovation have  in  the  entrepreneurial  internationalisation  process?  (2)  What  kind  of inward–outward   links   do   inter-organisational   relationships   create   in   the resource-seeking-based entrepreneurial internationalisation process? (3) What kind of capability to collaborate forms in the interaction of inter-organisational relationship deployment? The research design is a mixed methods design that consists of quantitative pilot study and qualitative multiple case study of five entrepreneurial life science companies from Finland and Austria.

The  findings  show  that  innovation  and  internationalisation  processes  are tightly  interwoven  in  pre-internationalisation  state.  The  findings  also  reveal that the  more experienced companies are able to take  advantage  of  complexcross-border inter-organisational relationship structures better than the starting companies.   However,   very   minor   evidence   was   found   on   inward   links translating   into   outward   links   in   the   entrepreneurial   internationalisation process,  despite  the  expectation  to  observe  more  of  these  links  in  the  data. Combined  intangible-tangible  resource-seeking  was  the  most  preferred  to build  links  between  inward–outward  internationalisation  but  also  to  develop competence to collaborate. By adopting a resource- instead of market-seeking approach, this study illustrated that internationalisation extends to early stages of innovative companies, and that in high-technology companies’ potentially significant   cross-border   relationships   have   started   to   form   long   before incorporation.  Therefore,  these  observations  justified  the  firmer  inclusion  of pre-company history in innovative entrepreneurship studies.

The study offers a conceptualisation of entrepreneurial internationalisation that  is  perceived  as  a  process.  The  main  theoretical  contributions  are  in  the areas of international entrepreneurship and in the behavioural process studies of entrepreneurial internationalisation and resource-based internationalisation. The inclusion of the innovation-based discussion, namely the innovation process, in the internationalisation process theories has clearly contributed to the understanding   of   entrepreneurial   internationalisation   in   the   context   of international  entrepreneurship.  Innovation  development  is  a  central  act  of entrepreneurial  companies,  and  neglecting  innovation  process  investigation from    entrepreneurial    internationalisation    leaves    potentially    influential mechanisms unexplored.