Abstract
<jats:p>The monograph addresses the issue of knowledge management and its diffusion in the context of opening the innovation process. The structure of the book consists of four chapters. First three chapters are theoretical in nature and contain a critical review of the literature, while the fourth presents the results of the author's own research. The empirical part focuses on biotechnology companies, which are increasingly faced with the problem of implementing a more flexible strategy for acquiring, creating and protecting intellectual property and the need to decentralize the innovation process. The aim of the study was to attempt to answer the question whether and to what extent European biotechnology companies are focused on opening innovation processes by using external technical knowledge and establishing research cooperation. To achieve the above objective, two research methods were used. The first method is a detailed analysis of patent documentation in terms of bibliographic data. The second method is appropriate for the so-called patentometrics, i.e. a review of patent citations, in the first stage backward citations (first-degree diffusion), and in the second forward citations (second-degree diffusion). The research results indicate a specific dualism in the innovation strategy modelling of the analysed biotechnology companies. On the one hand, they implement a closed innovation scheme, strongly protecting the results of their research and focusing primarily on their internal research potential. On the other hand, they open the innovation process in a controlled manner by using other people's knowledge, including technical knowledge archived in patent databases, and by establishing project cooperation in teams created with external entities. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the issues undertaken, which require a holistic approach, the economic basis of the considerations conducted was supplemented with the necessary analyses of a legal nature, especially in the area of material and intellectual property.</jats:p>