Why relationships matter more than resources: “Innovationship” explains how to turn connections into innovation

Why relationships matter more than resources: “Innovationship” explains how to turn connections into innovation

Written by Federico Frattini, Benedetto Buono, and Wim Vanhaverbeke, the book explores how relational capital can be strategically managed to foster innovation, generate sustainable value, and drive success in today’s competitive environment.

October, 2025 - Relationships are the most valuable asset for companies. Innovationship is the new book, now available in English, that explains how innovation can be strategically guided by relational capital.

Written by Federico Frattini, Benedetto Buono, and Wim Vanhaverbeke, the book represents the first managerial text with a popularization angle dedicated to the role of relational capital in innovation. It offers insights relevant both for large corporations and startups, showing how to strategically leverage relational capital to foster innovation, create long-term value, and achieve success in business.

The Preface by Henry Chesbrough
The book features a foreword by Henry Chesbrough, Director of the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most important research centers on innovation worldwide. Chesbrough, who coined the concept of Open Innovation - the paradigm whereby companies can and should access external ideas and markets to progress technologically and create profit - warns against the risk of turning it into a slogan unless supported by concrete actions.

Innovation Through Relationships
Today, open innovation has become one of the most relevant topics for corporate strategy. According to the latest data from the Osservatorio Digital Innovation , 83% of large companies already engage in open innovation (with 45% having a dedicated budget) and more than half collaborate with startups. Among SMEs, however, only 11% adopt structured approaches. Collaborations with universities and research centers remain the preferred practice (67%), followed by startup scouting and intelligence (52%) and hackathons (36%).

This reflects a broader truth: financial and technological capital are no longer sufficient to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. Innovation itself is accessible to anyone with an idea to develop. The real wealth lies in building and cultivating relational capital to generate tangible, sustainable value through a successful strategy.

Dialogue with innovators and stakeholders is an essential strategic asset: it enables knowledge sharing and creates new opportunities. Belonging to networks and ecosystems - often underestimated - becomes a crucial lever for business innovation and for generating new possibilities of creativity and development.

A Guide to Open and Collaborative Innovation
Innovationship – Innovation Driven by Relational Capital offers readers a framework for understanding how innovation and relational capital are closely intertwined and how they can be strategically planned and managed.

Thanks to extensive research and real-world case studies, the book analyzes the interconnections between relational capital and innovation processes, with contributions from existing taxonomies, models, and first-hand experiences. It provides a practical guide to adoptable strategies, with clear steps for organizations to responsibly and consciously cultivate relational capital as a key success factor in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments.

“Today, innovation is vital for the survival and long-term development of organizations, as well as for market leadership. Innovation, however, has profoundly changed: it is no longer based primarily on technology or financial capital, but on collaborations, exchanges of ideas, and shared resources. For this reason, it must necessarily be open and dynamic. In this ecosystem, relational capital is the cornerstone. With this book, we wanted to outline a replicable model for building a strategic approach to open innovation, in which relational capital is the fundamental asset,” explain the authors.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Federico Frattini is Dean of the POLIMI Graduate School of Management and Full Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation. Member of the management committee of POLIMI GSoM, he is a leading researcher in open innovation and technology leveraging strategies.

Benedetto Buono is Founding Partner of Buono & Partners, a strategic-relational consulting boutique. He is Director of the Professional Program in Business Networking at POLIMI Graduate School of Management and writes for Il Sole 24 Ore’s Econopoly column.

Wim Vanhaverbeke is Professor of Digital Strategy and Innovation at the University of Antwerp. His research focuses on digital transformation, innovation ecosystems, and open innovation. He is Editor-in-Chief of Technovation and co-founded the European Innovation Forum with Henry Chesbrough. He also co-organized the World Open Innovation Conference in 2016.

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