Inbound and Outbound Practices of Open Innovation and Eco-Innovation: Contrasting Bioeconomy and Non-Bioeconomy Firms

Generating innovation with environmental impact is crucial for firms to achieve sustainable eco-innovative performance. In the reference literature on open innovation, gaps still persist at the level of scarce and limited knowledge on the use of knowledge sources and flows, for the purpose of strengthening the eco-innovative performance of the bioeconomy sector. To address these caveats, this study analyses the effects of open innovation on eco-innovation, based on inbound and outbound support practices. Specifically, it aims to analyse the effects of these practices on the eco-innovative performance of bioeconomy and non-bioeconomy firms, using secondary data gathered from the Community Innovation Survey—CIS 2010 for a sample of moderately innovative countries, namely Slovakia, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and the Czech Republic. The conceptual model proposed is tested using multivariate tobit regression models, in order to ensure the accuracy and reliability required to validate empirical tests. Overall, the empirical evidence allows the conclusion that inbound and outbound practices and public policies have a positive and significant influence on the eco-innovative performance of the firms studied. The contribution provided is two-fold: (i) in theoretical terms, an operational model of open innovation inbound and outbound practices is extended, crossing financial flows and innovation directions; and (ii) in empirical terms, new light is shed on the still limited knowledge about the positive and significant effects of open innovation outbound practices on the eco-innovative performance of companies belonging to a global strategic sector—that is, the bioeconomy sector, which has renewed strategic importance in the face of global climate change.