Competencies for open innovation for entrepreneurs in technological incubators: an empirical test in Romania

Open innovation increases performance of incubating firms but the competencies that entrepreneurs need to succeed in this new context of innovation are still unknown. This study aims to expand the understanding of open innovation competencies by testing the relevance of the competence profile for open innovation identified by du Chatenier et al. (2010) for entrepreneurs, as well as the relevance of some technical managerial competencies that appeared in managerial literature. For that purpose, we collected data on competencies from 70 entrepreneurs in six technological incubators in Romania. Entrepreneurs rated their competencies and indicated the extent to which they use each of them in their open innovation projects. Data confirmed the relevance of competencies for open innovation but indicated that technical managerial competencies were rated lower than the others. Factor analysis did not fully confirm the theoretical clusters of the open innovation competence profile but tended to confirm the hierarchical structure that distinguishes between self-management competences and task-management competences. Regressions showed that competences for open innovation are more related to radical innovation than incremental and organizational innovation. This study contributes to entrepreneurship literature by showing the relevance of the competence profile for entrepreneurs. Knowing the competencies required for open innovation and how to measure them has direct and important managerial implications. Incubator managers can measure competencies and use self-management competences to select the entrepreneurs and task-management competences to help entrepreneurs to acquire them.