Innovationship – Innovation Driven By Relationships

• Title: Innovationship- Innovation driven by relationships
• Authors: Benedetto Buono POLIMI Graduate School of Management, Federico Frattini POLIMI Graduate School of Management & Wim Vanhaverbeke University of Antwerp
• Published by: Egea / Bocconi University Press – BUP, October 2025
• Where to find it: https://www.egeaeditore.it/ita/prodotti/strategia/innovationship__.aspx / https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innovationship-Innovation-Relationship-Federico-Frattini/dp/B0DWDWTRQ6

Innovation has perhaps become one of those buzzwords in business that is said frequently, agreed universally to be a vitally important quality to ensure success, but too few people are paying enough attention to in order to fully understand what it means. Like “synergy”, or “agility”, we all know we need to have it. But what is innovation exactly?

A blog posted on the Harvard Business School site points out the problem quite succinctly, using the example that terms like “innovation” and “creativity” are often used interchangeably, but are actually not the same thing at all.

“Using creativity in business is important,” it notes “because it fosters unique ideas. This novelty is a key component of innovation. For an idea to be innovative, it must also be useful.” Creative ideas, the blog post goes on to say, can’t be classed as innovation as they don’t necessarily produce viable solutions to problems.

To that end, countless business school modules, executive training programmes, business masterclasses and workshops have been established with the goal of teaching ambitious professionals how to innovate.

A more pressing question might be to consider how innovation can be harnessed, nurtured and funnelled into concepts and strategies that return actual value.

And this is the arena into which co-authors Benedetto Buono, Federico Frattini, and Wim Vanhaverbeke step with their latest release “Innovationship – Innovation Driven By Relationships.”

In their exploration, the authors demonstrate that the success of innovation lies not solely in the skills and qualifications of teams, the ability to identify the gap in the market, or possessing the tech or operational prowess (and yes, creativity) to construct a solution. The key, they share, is found in the relational capital of those who lead it.

Money and technology are increasingly abundant, Federico notes, yet those all-too-rare breakthrough outcomes hinge on something scarcer – relationships.

Fully leveraging this relational capital, they point out, is not easy. It requires a clear strategy, replicable models, and well-defined ideas. Their book provides those keen to learn with all of the above. Written in narrative form and featuring concrete success stories and practical models, readers are given the tools and methodologies to activate a virtuous cycle between innovation and relational capital.

The book is built from their collective extensive experiences advising and working within industry as well as academia. Benedetto is the founding partner of the strategic-relational consulting boutique Buono & Partners, as well as Director of the Professional Program in Business Networking at the POLIMI Graduate School of Management, an institute of which his co-author Federico is the Dean, as well as holding the position of Full Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation. Bringing expertise from the University of Antwerp and beyond, Vanhaverbeke is Professor of Digital Strategy and Innovation, holds the position of Editor-in-Chief of Technovation and is also the co-founder of the European Innovation Forum with Henry Chesbrough.

Relationships, Frattini states, are real capital for innovation – so much so that often they are far more influential than, financial or technological capital.

We sat down with the Dean of Polimi Graduate School of Management to find out more.

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your new book? What motivated you to write it?

We’ve spent years helping organisations innovate and noticed a paradox: money and technology are increasingly abundant, yet breakthrough outcomes still hinge on something scarcer-relationships. Innovationship was born to make that “relational capital” visible, measurable, and manageable, especially in a VUCA world where open, ecosystemic innovation is now the norm.

Henry Chesbrough’s foreword situates our contribution squarely within the open-innovation lineage-and challenges leaders to turn the idea into disciplined practice.

What are the key takeaways or main ideas that readers can expect to find in your book?

Relationships are real capital for innovation, distinct from, and often more decisive than financial or technological capital.

We show how to build, activate, and use relational capital across the innovation journey – ideation through implementation – so it becomes a repeatable capability, not luck.

Readers learn the practical taxonomy (bonding, bridging, linking) and the role of weak vs. strong ties, to then put in to practice how to mobilise superconnectors.

We add a strategic management playbook (objectives, planning, resource allocation, monitoring), training levers, and even propose a future role: the Chief Networking Officer.

Who is the target audience for your book, and how do you believe it will benefit them?

Corporate innovators, founders, public leaders, and ecosystem orchestrators. For executives, it’s a field manual to accelerate R&D with outside knowledge while reducing risk. For startups, it’s a pathway to punch above your weight by converting networks into talent, funding, and early market access. For public institutions and non-profits, it’s a blueprint to convene coalitions and scale impact. In every case, we translate relational assets into concrete choices, governance, and cadence.

What do you think makes this topic particularly relevant or timely in today’s business world, or for the years ahead?

Open innovation has moved from slogan to operating model. As Chesbrough argues, useful knowledge is widely distributed; advantage comes from how you access, combine, and share it across boundaries. Our research and cases show this shift, and recent data confirm widespread adoption of open-innovation practices-yet capability gaps remain, especially beyond large firms. Innovationship closes that execution gap with a rigorous, hands-on framework.

Can you discuss any specific case studies or real-world examples from your book that illustrate its principles in action?

Enel transitioned from a closed R&D stance to “Innovability,” building global innovation hubs, partnering with startups and universities, and using digital platforms to crowdsource solutions-showing how governance + culture (“My Best Failure”) enable ecosystem velocity.

P&G’s “Connect & Develop” reframed success metrics so that 50% of new products integrated external technologies – an iconic demonstration of inbound and outbound open innovation.

Isinnova (during COVID-19) activated a heterogeneous network-clinicians, engineers, 3D-printing experts-to deliver life-saving components at speed, a vivid example of bridging ties in action.

We also draw on platform and supply-chain playbooks – Airbnb (bonding/bridging/linking communities) and Tesla’s supplier ecosystem (micro/meso/macro layers of relational capital) to show portability across sectors.

How does your book add to/expand existing discussions on this topic?

Open innovation explains why external knowledge matters; we focus on how to operationalize it by treating relationships as a first-class asset. We integrate sociological and managerial lenses into one system: typologies (bonding/bridging/linking; weak/strong), capability stacks (team, trust, purpose, norms), process stages (build-activate-use), and governance (objectives, resource allocation, measurement).

We also confront the dark side-over-embedded networks, favouritism, conformity, and groupthink-and offer safeguards so relational capital remains a source of learning, not lock-in.

Can you provide some practical tips or strategies from your book that readers can immediately apply to improve their business or career?

Map your relational assets against strategic priorities. Identify where you need bonding (execution reliability), bridging (non-redundant insights), and linking (access to institutions and capital). Then set quarterly targets to rebalance the portfolio.

Build the core team right: small, cohesive, diverse in perspective; align on a clear purpose, explicit norms, and listening rituals to sustain trust and speed.

Exploit weak ties deliberately: schedule monthly “edge” conversations outside your industry; use them to stress-test assumptions and spot pivots earlier.

Activate superconnectors: two or three well-placed connectors can 10× your access to ideas, talent, and pilots. Give them a clear mandate and success metrics (introductions made, pilots launched, time-to-first-deal).

Institutionalize it: treat relational capital like capex-set objectives, allocate time/budget, track learning velocity, pipeline health, and diffusion of innovations across the network. Consider designating a CNO or equivalent to orchestrate.

Mitigate liabilities: rotate outsiders into reviews, encourage “constructive dissent,” and reward discovery-not just delivery-to fight conformity and over-embeddedness.

Finally, what book written by another author would you consider essential reading for your audience and why?

Henry Chesbrough’s Open Innovation (2003). It’s the foundational text on why and how to engage external ideas and markets; our work extends that logic to the relational infrastructure and operating model leaders need to make open innovation scale. Reading both gives executives the “theory + operating system” they need.

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