Areas of innovation in cities: the evolution of 22@Barcelona

Abstract

Areas of innovation (AOIs) are on the agenda of urban planners in the revitalisation of inner cities. The knowledge-based economy provides the opportunity to base these revitalisation efforts in creating AOIs as an evolution of the old industrial districts. Grounded in key conceptual frameworks in this research field-triple helix model, knowledge-based urban development paradigm, clusters of innovation framework, co-evolutionary theory, learning region theory and lifecycle of a new venture-as a reference, this work contributes to the existing literature by proposing a comprehensive model for the evolution of AOIs from inception to maturity. Using a case research study approach, the 22@Barcelona case, an AOI that transformed an old industrial district into a knowledge-based one, allows to analyse its evolution and to elaborate a model. Academic value stems from a new theorising effort of the evolution of AOIs. Urban planners benefit by getting additional clues in the revitalisation of cities.

From governance to choreography: coordination of innovation ecosystems

“…Therefore, we consider that the ecosystem evolves through the stages proposed by Piqué et al (2019): inception, launching, growth and maturity. In the inception stage, actors and resources are spread and demobilized.…”

“…The concept of life cycle of innovation ecosystems can be understood to be analogous to the biological systems in which the species born, develop and die. However, the stream of research in innovation ecosystems has modestly explored the theme of life cycle (Rabelo & Bernus, 2015; Piqué et al , 2019). Therefore, to search for models dealing with the stages of the ecosystem life cycle, we considered the connection of this theme with the field of studies on geographic agglomerations (Spigel, & Harrison, 2018), such as clusters (Menzel & Fornahl, 2010), entrepreneurial ecosystems (Cantner et al , 2020) and business ecosystems (Moore, 1993).…”

“…Fostering innovation ecosystems is an increasingly adopted strategy by governments around the world to promote socioeconomic development, from Massachusetts (Reynolds, & Uygun, 2018) and the Silicon Valley (Piqué, Berbegal-Mirabent, & Etzkowitz, 2018a), in the USA, to Barcelona, Spain (Piqué, Miralles, & Berbegal-Mirabent, 2019) and Porto Alegre, Brazil (Zen, Santos, Faccin, & Gonçalves, 2019). Many policymakers have noticed that a city or a region often invests many resources in qualifying human capital.…”

“…Conversely, due to their evolutionary nature, innovation ecosystems develop and change over time, according to life cycle stages. However, despite the importance of understanding how the dynamics of innovation ecosystems work, the concept of life cycle is undertheorized in this field (Rabelo & Bernus, 2015; Piqué et al , 2019; Cantner, Cunningham, Lehmann, & Menter, 2020). Each stage of a life cycle presents distinct characteristics and behaviors from actors.…”

“…We identified a gap in the literature about this dynamic of the ecosystem’s life cycle and coordination strategies in each stage. The literature in innovation ecosystems presents a substantial growth in the last decade (Suominen, Seppänen, & Dedehayir, 2019), yet few authors explore the life cycle of the innovation ecosystem (Piqué et al , 2019) and even the dynamic roles for actors to lead the ecosystem (Heaton, Siegel, & Teece, 2019; Bittencourt, Zen, & Santos, 2020). Moreover, each life cycle stage has its idiosyncrasies and thus calls for a distinct coordination strategy.…”