Collaboration, sustainability, and national innovation systems

The increasing use of collaborative arrangements to co-create solutions for intractable societal problems, or to co-produce wealth-creating innovation at a national level, does not seem to be matched by a consideration of the... [ view full abstract ]

The increasing use of collaborative arrangements to co-create solutions for intractable societal problems, or to co-produce wealth-creating innovation at a national level, does not seem to be matched by a consideration of the individual and collective competencies critical to this activity. These competencies inevitably develop as individuals and groups work together and accumulate experience, yet they are rarely acknowledged as assets which contribute to the sustainability of national innovation systems.

In this paper the literature reviewed highlights the value of collaborative skills in enhancing the sustainability of national innovation systems and solving intractable national problems. Also considered is how collaborative competencies are approached in policy and operational documents, particularly in an Australian innovation system context, to argue for the recognition of collaborative capital at a national level.

Significant research has examined network collaboration in the social services, health, education, medical, and utilities areas. Generally, these investigations have focused on networks within a regional geographic area, or even a single sector, examine the impact of collaborative initiatives in the localised region or sector, and are mostly restricted to collaboration’s impact during the initiative. The importance of considering collaborative competencies as an enduring resource at a national scale contributing to a country’s national innovation system, does not appear to have been fully explored. The importance of collaborative capacity, which can lead to national ‘collaborative capital’, has perhaps been overlooked because it is difficult to attribute a value, and thus to quantify (Barnes & McClure 2009, p. 9). Collective collaborative capital at a national level, with its concomitant set of collaborative skills that transcend individual research project boundaries, is effectively an asset to be leveraged to tackle future challenges that require a collaborative approach. We argue that the concept of ‘collaborative capital’ as an enduring, sustainable, transformational and valuable asset, should be recognised and acknowledged as national assets