Cooperation between IT companies and ecosystem participants as one of the innovation-generating factors: An empirical case from Serbia

Abstract

Companies in the IT sector cannot function independently if they want to follow global innovation trends. In a highly competitive environment, access to sources of knowledge and technologies outside the company is necessary. In this context, companies should look to universities, and other firms and government laboratories, as potential sources of useful knowledge and technologies. Cooperative initiatives originate from both the academic and industrial spheres, often encouraged by governments, at regional and national levels, and by multinational organizations. Companies in the IT sector should base their business on interactions in their ecosystem. This means that it is desirable to direct human, social and intellectual capital towards more intensive cooperation primarily between universities, industry and government, in terms of the Triple Helix (TH) concept, all with the aim of greater innovation. The research analyses the impact of cooperation between companies and participants from the external ecosystem aimed at developing innovations and explains the dynamics of such interactions as a factor of competitiveness and development.