Corporate–startup collaborations (CSCs) are becoming important mechanisms for bringing promising innovations to the market. Because startups often outpace incumbents in developing and diffusing disruptive ideas, the ability to identify, evaluate, and engage with them has become a distinctive source of competitive advantage for established firms. Even the due diligence involved in sourcing potential startup partners is shown to generate creative insights that help organizations navigate technological disruptions.

Despite these benefits, CSCs are inherently complex. Tensions arise due to differences in the motives, interests, and pace of operations between startups and established firms. Moreover, evident asymmetries in learning rates may also render startups more vulnerable to the potential risk of misappropriation. While CSCs have gained increasing prominence in practice, empirical work in this area remains fragmented with a narrow focus on unilateral corporate venture capital investments, internal corporate acceleration/incubation programs, or startup acquisition strategies, rather than on collaborative innovation, such as co-creation, validation, and shared R&D arrangements.

The aim of this track is to gather common theoretical perspectives underlying this stream of research (theories, assumptions, and focus) and uncover different strategies through which CSCs can foster creativity and promote resilience within both startups and well-established organizations.

Each submitted abstract will be subject to at least two reviews. Constructive reviews will be solicited from our network of colleagues who have expertise (e.g., have worked or are currently working) in related areas. Authors submitting to this track may also be invited to review abstracts submitted by their peers. We welcome empirical and conceptual contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following areas:

1. Creative outcomes: How joint R&D projects with startups contribute to the development of creative solutions within established firms? What collaboration mechanisms or practices best support idea generation, experimentation, and cross-organizational learning? How can CSCs accelerate the translation of novel concepts into market-ready solutions?

2. Resilience and adaptive capacity: How does working with startups enable corporations to better anticipate, absorb, and adapt to technological, market, or organizational disruptions? How do corporate collaborations enable startups to recover from setbacks, pivot strategies, or reconfigure resources under uncertainty?

3. Partnership selection strategies: What motivates corporations to collaborate with startups, and how can such collaborations be better integrated into the organization's overarching strategy? How do corporations identify, select, and engage with promising startups? What criteria do startups look for in corporate partners?

4. Risks and challenges: Why do some CSCs fail to yield desired outcomes? What are some common pitfalls or factors to consider for mitigating these failures, and how can corporations and startups learn from these experiences?