Open Innovation Practices of Clustered SMEs. The case study of a French Technopole

International audienceLittle is known about open innovation (OI) of small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) colocated in clusters, although these specific agglomerations seem to offer SMEs some fruitful opportunities for networking and open innovation. This chapter aims to fill this gap and contribute to a better understanding of the intermediate role of cluster governance in supporting open innovation practices of clustered SMEs. Following the framework of Lee et al. (2010) on open innovation intermediaries, we examine a single case study of the Technopole de l’Aube in the Champagne Region of France. We carried out 26 face-to-face semistructured interviews with techno- politan firms’ chief executive officers and governance’s members, between June 2014 and January 2015. Our findings highlight direct and indirect support for OI projects of the technopolitan SMEs. However, our case study also suggests that cluster governance has to pay more attention to the support of collaborative projects and to allocate additional resources for developing an organizational climate for OI