Reviewing cross-field Public Private Innovation literature: Current research themes and future research themes yet to be explored

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic overview of current and future research themes discussed in the literature of Public Private Innovation (PPI). The overview is much needed as different research areas currently investigating PPI seem unaware of each other’s findings and, as such, produce knowledge that is unconnected. Bridging these unconnected knowledge resources makes it possible for researchers to position their PPI studies more effectively, and practitioners become aware of the many cross-research contributions existing in the area of PPI. The overview is provided through a systematic review and content analysis of PPI literature, bringing together PPI knowledge from different research areas. Our findings point out that current research into PPI mainly is process-oriented, focusing on the early activities taking place in PPI projects (development activities), and especially interested in how to manage relationships between public and private players. Also, current research mainly adopts a public sector perspective when investigating PPI. Further, our findings show that suggestions for future research keep this particular orientation. Only few researchers discuss PPI from the perspective of private firms, or consider those implementation and commercialization challenges that may exist after solutions have been developed.