R&D Investment Optimization Strategies in Deep-Tech Start-ups: A Four-Dimensional Reading

Abstract

The optimization of research and development (R&D) investments constitutes a central strategic challenge for deep-tech start-ups, a category of innovative firms characterized by high capital intensity, long development cycles, and exposure to radical technological uncertainty. While the existing literature has progressively enriched our understanding of this phenomenon, it has done so in a fragmented manner, treating the organizational, financial, environmental, and technological dimensions separately without proposing an integrated reading.

This article aims to bridge this gap by constructing a four-dimensional conceptual framework that articulates these four categories of determinants around the core problem of R&D investment optimization. The approach taken is based on a structured and critical literature review, mainly using the Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases, complemented by checking the references of the selected works.

Theoretically, the article draws on stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984), foundational work on decision-making under uncertainty (Knight, 1921; Loch et al., 2006), the real options approach (Dixit & Pindyck, 1994), absorptive capacity theory (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990), and recent developments on hybrid financing mechanisms (Mukherjee, A., Owen, R., Scott, J. M., & Lyon, F. (2024)). The analysis of the literature suggests that these four dimensions do not combine mechanically but may condition one another through several interaction mechanisms. It formulates four research propositions of a theoretical nature, not subjected to empirical validation within the scope of the present work and intended to guide subsequent field investigations. The article concludes by highlighting the specific challenges of emerging economies, where constraints accumulate rather than compensate for one another. This contribution is, however, subject to an inherent limitation: the corpus mobilized is predominantly drawn from developed economies, which implies that the transferability of the propositions to emerging economy contexts will need to be verified empirically.

Classification JEL : O32 · O31 · G24 · L26 · O16

Paper type: Theoretical Research