Enhancing open innovation in university: Collaborative frameworks and knowledge management systems 4.0

Countries that rank high on the Global Innovation Index (GII) tend to have environments more conducive to open innovation. In contrast, low-income countries face significant gaps in innovation, suggesting the need for a more collaborative framework. The objectives of this study were to identify and validate the critical dimensions of building a collaborative framework to enhance open innovation in universities, integrate the framework with Knowledge Management System 4.0, and identify critical success factors and barriers to open innovation implementation. A mixed methodology approach was used, which resulted in a collaborative framework integrated with 4.0 technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and blockchain. The results show that the proposed collaborative framework has five interrelated dimensions: organization, process, motive, knowledge flow, technology, and people, effectively supporting open innovation. This research makes practical contributions by providing a framework that universities can adopt to strengthen open innovation, as well as critical success factors needed to determine appropriate strategies and barrier factors for better mitigation of challenges in open innovation implementation.