Abstract
The study purposively selected 340 researchers in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Department in Knowledge Institutions in Nigeria. The study aimed to determine the effect of collaboration on innovation outputs. Two forms of collaboration (active and passive) were explored as sources of information in the study. The main research instrument was a questionnaire administered to three hundred researchers in the School of Computing and Informatics across thirty universities in Nigeria and forty other researchers in the Research & Development (R&D) Departments in four ICT-related government research agencies. The study identified eight partners for collaboration. These eight indicators were regressed against indicators of ICT R&D outputs (publications, patents, and prototypes) during the reference period 2016, 2017, and 2018. In addition, the eight indicators were regressed against indicators of ICT innovations (product and process innovations) during the reference period 2016 to 2018, with ICT R&D outputs and innovations as dependent variables and the sources of information and collaborating partners as independent variables. The study found that institutional sources, market sources, and other technical sources of information significantly impacted the ICT R&D outputs. However, market sources of information are the leading significant influencers of ICT innovations. Also, publications written with colleagues in other institutions and patents granted with colleagues in the same institutions through collaborations are critical drivers of ICT R&D outputs in the knowledge institutions. At the same time, market partners such as suppliers and clients are the main drivers of ICT innovations.