Identification and analysis of barriers in co-innovation projects in the manufacturing and energy industry

Innovation is critical to a company's growth in today's competitive environment. Co-innovation projects, where companies pool resources, represent a promising way to achieve this goal. This study, based on a focus group of industry experts from the manufacturing and energy sectors, aims to identify the challenges of such collaborations and propose suitable solutions. The study relies on the innovation phase model and identifies several obstacles such as short technology lifecycles, data management overload, and organizational shortcomings in co-innovation projects. Effective management, communication and intellectual property (IP) can be a significant challenge in co-innovation projects, particularly due to uncertainties surrounding the release of sensitive data and inadequate contractual support. Uncoordinated communication can also result in project delays or failure. Furthermore, the absence of access protocols for online applications presents risks such as unauthorized access and document change tracking issues, further complicating complex engineering projects. Despite the availability of digital providers, many of them still require physical platforms for efficient innovation projects due to insufficient support for e.g., data management and caused by communication limitations. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the urgent need for research on co-innovation projects and recommends a collaborative framework to address the complexities triggered by this kind of projects and increase collaboration effectiveness