Ecosystems in Places & Partnerships as Herding Spaces

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in explaining the role of place in different organisational settings. Yet, there is a lack of understanding of how a place can shape interorganisational relations in partnerships and ecosystems. In this paper, we conceptually develop dynamic and recursive relationships between innovation ecosystems, cross-sector partnerships as herding spaces, and places that include the natural and regional environments.We demonstrate these dynamic relationships in the illustrative case of an emerging circular textile ecosystem in Southwest Finland, which was developed and nurtured by a cross-sector partnership. Drawing on our literature review and showcasing this illustrative case, we introduce a conceptual model and discuss how place can play an enabling or disabling role in the development of sustainable innovation ecosystems, and that the recursive relationships can be best understood with the creation of vicious and virtuous cycles. We emphasise the role of path dependence in the relationship between ecosystems and the places they are embedded, and in doing so we bridge the gap between innovation ecosystems and natural and regional environments. We position nature and regions as platial scales and highlight the crucial role of cross-sector partnerships as herding spaces to develop and nurture the sustainable innovation ecosystems that help the regeneration of places.

Places and spaces of collaborative R&D and innovation: navigating the role of physical and virtual contexts

“…For example, previous literature suggests that the collision of participants' thinking can speed up innovation activities in particular environments (Leminen et al., 2021). Similarly, the articles in this issue demonstrated how both individual and collective sensemaking are shaped in virtual spaces (e.g., Ollila and Yström, 2022; Adibe et al., 2023) or how a shared vision is communicated (Dzhengiz and Patala, 2023). All in all, the articles in this issue provided more understanding of a shared ‘place’ where meaning‐making takes place and which affects how actors act by themselves and about each other.…”

“…Dzhengiz and Patala (2023) explore the role of cross‐sector partnerships (CSPs) in the dynamics between places and innovation ecosystems. The study examines two cases, Humber Local Enterprise Partnership in the United Kingdom and Telaketju in Southwest Finland, to develop a conceptual model of how CSPs can regenerate places and revitalize innovation ecosystems.…”

“…The special issue articles span a spectrum of themes, from the theoretical underpinnings of collaborative spaces to the effects of virtual and physical spaces on collaborative innovation. More specifically, they are examining cross‐sector partnerships (Dzhengiz and Patala, 2023), collaborative innovation workplaces (Klooker and Hölzle, 2023), living labs (Della Santa et al., 2022), makerspaces (Zakoth et al., 2023), community‐based collaborative dynamics (Capdevila and Mérindol, 2022), and hubs as spaces as part of the local innovation ecosystems (Haukipuro et al., 2023). Several articles specifically examine virtual collaboration spaces as a new and under‐researched formation.…”