Generating and diffusing innovation through knowledge transfers in business networks: concepts, evidence, and lessons for economic development

Inter-organisational knowledge networks (KNs) are formal or informal relationships between companies to share knowledge, solve problems, and exploit ideas with the purpose to implement a common business project. KNs are important for economic development: by connecting with “the big businesses”, small or local companies can exploit opportunities that would be hard to achieve. The paper analyses notions and classifications of KNs in business, summarises the results of a case-study research on KNs in distinct sectors, and provides lessons for management and policy-making.