This paper contributes to literature on resource collaboration in innovation ecosystems (Pera et al., 2016). Yaghmaie and Vanhaverbeke (2020) define innovation ecosystems as a group of organizations that aim to jointly create and capture value from joint innovation activities. Previous literature has shown the significance of resource flows in value creation of innovation ecosystems (Bittencourt et al., 2021; Thomas et al. 2022). We apply the 4R Model (Baraldi et al., 2012) to analyze the processes of resource interaction in innovation ecosystems which fall under the strategic networks (Möller et al., 2020).

Innovation ecosystems have been considered inherently capable of creating shared value, but a deeper analysis of value creation is still scarce (Ketonen-Oksi & Valkokari, 2019; Arena et al., 2022). Collaboration is key to enhance resource interaction in innovation ecosystems, but sharing of resources, such as knowledge, for innovation is seen as risky (Arena et al., 2022). We pose the question of how resource interaction is enhanced in innovation ecosystems.

The research question is answered through a multi-case study of 15 innovation ecosystems operating in Finland, Sweden, and Belgium. The primary data was gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews (Lee & Aslam, 2017). They comprised 38 individual interviews, and three round table discussions, each in one ecosystem. We interviewed ecosystem leaders and managers, facilitators and coordinators, and ecosystem members from companies, universities and research institutes, and local government.

By focusing on the processes of resource interaction, the 4R model provides a way of investigating these complex processes. It depicts four types of interacting resources: products, facilities, organizational units, and inter-organizational relationships. The main advantage of this four-part classification is that it allows for a precise analysis of how two or more resources interact. This type of analysis aids in efforts to manage their utilization (Baraldi et al., 2012). While products and production facilities are tangible resources in resource integration, business units and business relationships contain skills, knowledge and interaction experience that affect the subsequent resource interaction through which development is advanced (Chou and Zolkiewski, 2012). We found that resource interaction can be enhanced through social, technical, and administrational bonds. Trust building and committing the actors of the innovation ecosystem to innovation are important means to enhance resources interaction among the participants. This can take place through neutral intermediaries for coordination and facilitation, common rules for internal and external communication, and providing incentives for active participation. Further digital tools for knowledge sharing and innovation platforms where the innovation can take place, enable resource interaction. Administration includes, e.g., provision and management of funding for innovation.