Open Innovation: Redesigning Collaboration Ecosystems for Company Competitiveness in the Digital Age

This contribution examines how, in the knowledge economy, Open Innovation and collaborative models can support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in accessing, sharing, and applying distributed knowledge, and analyzes the role of strategic design as a connective and integrative capability within such ecosystems. Companies, in particular SMEs, face the challenges of globalization, digital transformation, and the growing push toward the systemic integration of Artificial Intelligence. In recent years, they have begun to recognize the integration of strategic design as an essential lever for the development of innovative business models and the construction of resilient value networks, capable of keeping pace with the changes imposed by rapid technological innovation and the evolution of consumer behaviors. Design emerges as a critical connector and facilitator of heterogeneous knowledge and skills, essential to guide innovation and sustain competitiveness in global markets that are increasingly interconnected and dependent on interdisciplinary cross-pollination. From a knowledge economy perspective, this connective function assumes particular relevance since the competitiveness of SMEs increasingly depends on the ability to access distributed knowledge, integrate it through collaborative relationships, and translate it into concrete opportunities for innovation. The contribution proposes a structured methodological framework to support collaboration among heterogeneous actors and analyzes, through an exploratory case, how strategic design can facilitate processes of knowledge creation, sharing, integration, and application within collaborative ecosystems.