Innovation labs as organisational catalysts for innovation capacity development: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Innovation labs are increasingly adopted as an organizational and management initiative to catalyse innovation and support the development of an organizational innovation capacity. Despite the growing attention to the role of innovation labs, the extant studies appear scattered. There is a lack of a comprehensive understanding of their relevance as innovation spaces for developing and sustaining organisations' innovation processes. For this reason, this study aims to expand and update the existing understanding of innovation labs by demonstrating their evolution from closed innovation spaces within large firms to organisational catalysts that foster open, collaborative and user-driven innovation dynamics. Adopting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) based on 152 peer-reviewed journal articles, the study provides an integrative picture of the current literature on innovation labs. In particular, the study proposes a reference framework distinguishing Innovation Labs’ typologies and critical dimensions, a comprehensive definition of an innovation lab, a framework to assess the maturity level of innovation labs, and a research agenda to advance the understanding of innovation labs further.