Paper short abstract:

This paper compares different structures of network collaboration for innovation production where collective thinking, sponsors, mentors, investors, promoters embed original and creative projects. Ambiguous relations take place building unprecedented bridges as well as reinforcing old barriers.

Paper long abstract:

In the 21st century innovation production and management has taken place in a de-territorialized process mediated by information technologies and social media. This has diversified and encouraged multiple disaggregated processes of knowledge production, fragmentation and dispersion, shaping a dynamic and fluid structure that connects multiple social actors in an organic way. This paper will compare different organizational structures of networks where collective thinking, sponsors, mentors, investors and promoters embed original and creative projects. Scientific knowledge mix with local experiences, and as new financial instruments become available, regulations and value appropriation are challenged. Informational technologies are more than enablers: they have transformed into an action field. This new structure seems to be very open and horizontal, but while ambiguous relations create unprecedented bridges allowing innovative ideas to flow through the process of knowledge production, at the same time many barriers persist and reinforce asymmetries and power relations. No doubt, virtual communication and collaboration has given birth to a new civilizatory process that has redefined interactivity, access to information and opportunities, but it is confronting new governance issues in the virtual space.