Health product innovation and circular economy: A case study of inter-organisational cooperation in the development of a new firm

Abstract

Technological renewal is increasingly complex and costly, which makes it difficult for new firms to be able to develop their innovation activities in isolation. Many of the product innovation requirements are not completely available inside firms, and so they need to form cooperative relationships with other organisations to make up for the shortages in resources and capacity. Through analysis of a case study, the aim is to understand the inter-organisational cooperation relationships established by one firm in the use, as a raw material, from another firm's activity waste – coffee dregs. This type of innovative cooperation also involved simultaneously a university and an innovation research centre in the development of a new product in the health field. It provides an example of circular economy in the context of an innovative firm's initial development, something that could inspire academics and business-people who focus their work on sustainability, innovation and inter-organisational cooperation topics, where the diversity of relationships has not yet been studied in the consulted literature. Several semi-structured interviews were carried out with representatives of the focal company and other cooperating organisations, in addition to secondary data collected from each one. From content analysis method, the results show mutual advantages, locally and nationally, in establishing cooperative relationships to develop an innovative product based on sustainability principles. Still based on the case study, six major topics were identified: (1) sustainability; (2) planning the firm's activity in the medium and long-term; (3) product innovation; (4) university-firm relationship; (5) protecting industrial property, and (6) community benefits resulting from the cooperation. Based on these topics, an innovative model is proposed, as well as presenting the contributions of this pioneering study to theory and practice. Future lines of research are indicated to guide possible empirical studies to carry out a posteriori.