A Review of Innovation Consortia Research: Conceptual Evolution, Organizational Mechanisms, and Operational Logic

Abstract

Against the backdrop of accelerating knowledge flows and increasingly urgent demands for breakthroughs in key technologies, various organizational forms centered on collaborative R&D have emerged continuously. Internationally, Research Joint Ventures (RJVs) and Research Consortia have been proven effective in internalizing technology spillovers, sharing R&D risks, and have played significant developmental roles in high-tech industries such as semiconductors and biomedicine. However, the concept of “Innovation Consortium” proposed in China in recent years, while drawing upon international experience, places greater emphasis on enterprises’ leading role in technological innovation, government’s organizational guidance in major missions, and the deep integration of diverse entities at the industrial chain and innovation chain levels, forming a cooperative R&D organizational model with distinctive contextual characteristics. Yet existing research remains relatively fragmented in defining the conceptual connotations of Innovation Consortia, and systematic analysis of operational mechanisms is comparatively weak, urgently requiring integration and clarification through literature review. This paper systematically reviews existing research on the concept, organizational structure, and operational mechanisms of innovation consortia. It analyzes the composition of multiple actors, formation models, and key influencing factors, summarizes three types of operational mechanisms—network collaboration, competitive game, and internal coordination—and identifies three governance models: the single-center star model, the core R&D organization-led model, and the non-core consensus-based model. Furthermore, the paper recognizes multiple constraints faced by innovation consortia during implementation, including institutional, interest-related, knowledge transfer, and capability boundary issues, and reveals the potential risks of “remaining loosely coupled instead of truly integrated” and “being easy to establish but prone to disintegration”. Finally, this paper provides feasible practical implications and points out the limitations of current research in terms of micro-dynamic processes, quantitative testing, and dynamic evolution patterns. It also proposes future research directions in areas such as typological studies, enterprise-led mechanisms, and the impact of government policies, aiming to support theoretical development, policy optimization, and governance practices of collaborative R&D organizations in the Chinese context.