Recognition of Open R&D Ecosystem through Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (Case Study: Iranian Nanotechnology)

In recent decades, in the face of rapid changes in the business environment, technological fields have increasingly moved towards opening borders and using external resources. However, recognizing the body of the ecosystem, analyzing the interactions, balancing the exploitation of external knowledge and breaking down boundaries is a necessity that have not been addressed or addressed in a scattered manner. Therefore, understanding the components or roots of the open R&D ecosystem in Nano-technology was a necessity in the present study. The present study was descriptive in terms of purpose, applied in terms of use and a survey in terms of data collection; the research was of mixed nature using purposeful-judgmental sampling method. By reviewing the research literature and aggregating the opinions of experts and policymakers in the field of R&D and nanotechnology using the Fuzzy Delphi questionnaire, 6 main components and 17 sub-factors were identified. Then, the causal model of direct and indirect relationships between the components and their intensity was designed through UCINET software. The results showed that the structure of an open R&D ecosystem consists of the flow of activities, the formation of links, the selection of positions, boundary restrictions, actors and time, each of which has its own sub-factors. Next, the causal model of direct and indirect relationships was analyzed using the Fuzzy Cognitive Map, and then the influence intensity of each node in ecosystems was analyzed. The results of the analysis of the causal model using fuzzy cognitive mapping showed that profitability as a sub-factor of activity flow had the greatest effect and time to enter the market as a time sub-factor had the least effect on R&D ecosystems. This research was theoretically a framework with minimum requirements for understanding the components of an open R&D ecosystem in Iran`s nanotechnology and in practice, indicated that it is affected by the policies and attitudes of policymakers in this field.