Established players (corporates) across most industries face a similar challenge; they need to find their digital strategy. This starts with engaging in a digital transformation journey to learn how to generate digital innovations. The collaboration with start-ups exploring applications/solutions based on digital technologies offers a potential short-cut in this journey.

While the knowledge or other assets related to digital technologies could be easy to acquire, the processes behind digital innovation are quite different in nature. See for example, how it is now difficult to set up a new cryptocurrency (based on blockchain), or to start producing your own sensors (IoT) to capture and analyse the data from your clients (cloud); but it is much difficult to find how to offer an app that makes equipment installers prefer to work with your products.

However, we know little on how to organize such collaborations, what are the consequences for corporates and start-ups, and how they differ depending on the types of digital innovations they co-develop.

The track co-chairs are in the process of preparing a special issue on the topic at the journal Industry & Innovation, in collaboration with the journal editors. The papers submitted to the track will be encouraged to consider the SI at Industry & Innovation as a potential outlet for their full paper.