Public-private alliances in open innovation projects: the governance of alliances in smart cities

This paper aims at deeply understanding the governance mechanisms of alliances between public and private in a new and increasingly important contest of analysis: the Smart Cities. To do this, 21 in-depth semi-structured interviews with both Innovation and Smart City managers from seven large multinational corporations participating in Smart City initiatives were carried out. Results propose significant new insights useful to manage these hybrid partnerships that involve the development of uncertain technologies, services or business models with the final aim at satisfying citizens needs. Implications both for private managers and for public bodies and cities' policy making were presented in the light of the existent literature.