Inter-organizational innovation projects developed within the framework of a public policy - Discussion and observations about the nature of innovations, cooperation practices and their interrelationships

In recent years, the promotion of R&D partnerships between universities, research labs and
companies has become a key feature of innovation and development public policies.
However, these collaborations turn out to be fragile and their management very complex. In
our literature review, the congruence between the nature of innovations (i.e. their radicalness)
and the cooperation practices appears as a potentially powerful explanatory factor of interfirm
innovation project’s outcome.
Following this hypothesis, we explore, on two case studies of projects subsidized by the
Walloon Competitive Clusters program, the way actors innovate and organize their actions.
Though they face similar constraints, these projects illustrate diverse configurations, not only
as to the nature of innovations but also as to cooperation practices. Besides, the analysis
reveals that the criteria used to characterize the nature of innovations do not necessarily form
a homogeneous set of factors. Considering these observations, we try to identify the main
challenges faced by both projects’ partners.