The Emerging Innovation Ecosystems and "Valley of Death": Towards the Combination of Entrepreneurial and Institutional Approaches

Abstract

This paper provides the discussion regarding the nature, origins and diversity of innovation ecosystems with particular emphasis on the context of the emerging economies and "smart specialisation" paradigm of regional development. Bridging the gap between the research economy and commercial economy ("Valley of Death") remains one of the key concerns of the mature and institutionalised innovation ecosystems. However, many of the emerging innovation ecosystems still suffer from underdeveloped institutional frameworks and fragmented ties of actors, which is a more pronounced challenge than "Valley of Death". It is important to take into consideration the specific needs of different innovation ecosystems in the context of the current EU innovation and regional policies (recently synergised under "smart specialization"). The development of sustainable innovation ecosystem requires a different mentality than the traditional institutional-regulatory approach adopted in the context of national innovation systems. It means the search for delicate balance between the supplyside and demand-side interventions, public and private, openness and ownership, long-term and short-term perspectives, quality of elements and their relationships, adequate policy actions and smooth functioning of the "invisible hand". The emerging innovation ecosystems need to complement their entrepreneurial profiles with stronger institutional frameworks and innovation support mechanisms, whereas the mature institutionalised innovation ecosystems should not over-rely on institutional, supply-side solutions, but strengthen the entrepreneurial culture that is even more critical to innovation success.

Species in the wild: a typology of innovation ecosystems

“…Therefore, we used the available literature and are similarly skewed towards high-technology industries at the national level and from the perspective of focal firms (Lechman 2017). We suggest carrying out further research in other contexts such as medium-and low-tech industries instead of high-tech ones (Kapoor and Furr 2015;Oh et al 2016;Song 2016), global markets instead of national ones (Arora et al 2019;Yaghmaie and Vanhaverbeke 2019), and ecocentric innovation ecosystems instead of firm-centric ones (Holgersson et al 2018;Jucevicius et al 2016;Song 2016;Yaghmaie and Vanhaverbeke 2019).…”

“…The last decade has witnessed dynamic growth in the popularity of innovation ecosystems research among scholars (Beliaeva et al 2019;Kang et al 2019;Liguori et al 2019;Su et al 2018;Xu et al 2018;Bacon et al 2020) accompanied by a "burgeoning interest" among practitioners and policymakers (Dedehayir et al 2016, p. 9). Innovation ecosystems are depicted as a dominant concept in innovation management (Jucevicius et al 2016), allowing research in the field of innovation management to be carried out in a particularly timely and accurate manner. The ecosystem concept takes into account the progressive externalization, systemic coimplementation and networking of innovation (Ritala and Almpanopoulou 2017, p. 39) typical for the current business environment.…”

Exploring the Key Driving Forces of the Sustainable Intergenerational Evolution of the Industrial Alliance Innovation Ecosystem: Evidence from a Case Study of China’s TDIA

“…This type of evolution involves two mechanisms, i.e., variation and selective retention [24]. The sustainable development of an innovation ecosystem requires a different mentality than that of the traditional innovation system [25]. The manner of innovation ecosystem reconfiguration likely depends on the design attributes of the product and the type of disruption experienced [26].…”

Ecopreneurial Education and Support: Developing the Innovators of Today and Tomorrow

“…Overcoming the so-called "valley of death" of innovation requires not only the bridging between the research sphere and the commercial sphere [95], but also consideration of existing constructs of entrepreneurial bridging and legacy and its influence, or not, on the learned experience and the re-learned experience of fledgling and engaged entrepreneurs and ecopreneurs. Central to this is the connection between creativity and novelty seeking i.e., the quest for looking for what is new or different [96], which is of particular interest when considering entrepreneurial behavior.…”