Innovation search: the role of innovation intermediaries in the search process

The aim of this paper is to explore how innovation search is conceptualised, given that firms increasingly use innovation intermediaries. The paper examines the search processes which involves the role of innovation intermediaries in different stages of the innovation search process. The study discovered that innovation search activity is a much more extended and complex process, not being as targeted or as specific than previously conceptualised, and involves a set of search stages, which are associated with a loosely coupled iterative search process. Innovation intermediaries were also discovered to be undertaking new, more extended roles in the search process, through, for example, combining new search procedures with online digital platforms.