The value of collaboration in shaping, developing and commercialising emerging technology: Insights from synthetic biology

Although technology has historically proven to be an important driver for social and economic impact, the multi-disciplinary nature of modern scientific research and product development has created complex challenges regarding the management of actors and activity towards responsible and sustainable solutions. With a focus on synthetic biology, this thesis studies the forms and supporting conditions of collaboration in relation to the development of emerging technology. Within the context, we propose that collaboration can be explained from three different perspectives. From a macro-level perspective, the degree of long-term stakeholder coordination and the concretisation of system-wide activity is found to be positively associated to technology legitimisation. The analysis on performed assessments shows that when assessments are characterised by limited or biased inclusion of actors, the impact of such assessments on political and organisational decision-making processes is limited. Also, it indicates towards the differentiated instrumental value assessments can have for stakeholder activation, as well as for the facilitation of knowledge exchange between independently involved communities. From a meso-level perspective, the degree of R&D cooperation is found to be influenced by technology maturation and is positively associated with technology industrialisation. The analysis on boundary objects shows that going beyond broad conceptualisation can improve communication and harmonisation between communities and facilitate the mapping of multi-dimensional R&D activities. The patent analysis sheds light how such mapping enables the characterisation of active R&D organisations, as well as how beneficial forms of collaboration can be identified. The analysis also indicates that the development of technology applications is influenced by obtained achievements in the different foundational dimensions of emerging technology. From a micro-perspective, the degree of adaptable management structures and explorationexploitation capabilities within R&D organisations is positively related to external technology commercialisation. The analysis of organisational capabilities shows that success is strongly associated with the extent organisations have flexible management structures and dedicated resource allocation for exploring and exploiting external commercialisation opportunities. Also, the analysis indicates that the nature of exploration-exploitation constellations and the quality of internal intelligence influences the level of strategic innovation within organisations. Overall, this thesis argues that collaboration can be a means for organisational adaptation in complex innovation systems and drive the development of emerging technology. The need for collaboration, particularly in relation to the effectiveness of de facto open innovation practices, is dependent on the degree of conceptual representations being translated into practice, as well as on the distribution of concretised concepts over different stakeholders active in innovation systems.