External Sources in the process of Open Innovation: Reinforcing and Restrictive Factors in Tech Startups

Despite that research on open innovation keeps in growing, applications in Startups are still incipient, especially in Brazil. Thus, this paper aims to describe and analyze the challenges of open innovation in technology-based Startups, seeking reinforcing and restrictive factors involved for external sources of knowledge. The study considered two startups on which were considered two main categories: i) Search by external sources and ii) Motivation and Background. The results indicated that the main Reinforcing or Fostering factor was the support being given by a University infrastructure as well as the one regarding the search for sources of funding and internal competencies needed by Startups. In turn, there were legal and bureaucratic problems regarding transfer and negotiation with external sources, these in addition to the fear of sharing knowledge and inner experiences in the context of open innovation were the main restrictive factors. So it seems that there are serious limits in trying to apply the Open Innovation Model in the case of Startups in Brazil due to structural, cultural and legal limitations.