“…The literature on innovation in the healthcare industry has highlighted the increasing importance of external mechanisms of knowledge integration and interfirm R&D collaboration between pharmaceuticals firms, universities and hospitals (Liebeskind, Oliver, Zucker & Brewer, 1996;Oliver, 2001;Orsenigo, Pammolli & Riccaboni, 2001;Quéré, 2004;Powell, 1990;Powell, Koput & Smith-Doerr, 1996;Powell, White, Koput & Owen-Smith, 2005;Rai, 2005;Shaw, 1998;Swan et al, 2005;Weigel, 2008) as well as in the context of biotechnology innovation (Broerse & Bunders, 2000;Roijakkers & Hagedoorn, 2006;Vence, Sánchez, Rodil, 2013). This evidence endorses the hypothesis that innovation, regardless of industry, relies to a great extent on the continuous and unbounded interaction among an array of actors.…”