Innovation Ecosystems in the European Union: Towards a Theoretical Framework for their Structural Advancement Assessment

Abstract

A theoretical framework to describe and assess the advancement of innovation ecosystems in the contemporary European Union is more than necessary in order to map actors and processes, and thus provide a more comprehensive and dynamic approach. For actors, the reframed innovation helix perspective is applied, while the multilevel perspective is used for processes. At each innovation progress stage, other actors should have a slightly different role, be more active and important, and also relate to each other in a different manner. The emergence and density of intermediary actors are seen as important aspects. From the process perspective, the innovation application and also its adoption at the sociotechnical landscape level are seen as crucial. Thus, collective intelligence with societal implications and consideration for the environment evolve into the key ingredients of an advanced innovation ecosystem in the European Union. * This paper is the fi rst part of the 'Innovation Ecosystems in the EU' research and dynamic system approach to innovation. It will be followed by an assessment of the EU innovation stage, and the nanotechnology and banking sectors. JEL Classifi cation: A13, B59.

Public Support for Business, Intermediary Organizations, and Knowledge Transfer: Critical Development and Innovation Policy Bottlenecks

“…They proposed that these ecosystems are multilevel configurations of tangible and intangible elements. They significantly enriched the 2 We focus only on the macro-meso-micro synthesis as a framework for multilevel analysis, although we recognize that there are other relevant approaches (Gonzalez et al, 2018). Multilevel analysis can perceive developments at the levels of niches, sociotechnical regimes, and exogenous sociotechnical landscapes (Geels 2011;Perez 2004).…”

A New European Bauhaus for a Culture of Transversality and Sustainability

“…This analysis follows the conception of different innovation ecosystem actors within the innovation helix framework shown in Figure 4 [55]. This is a more structural and collective intelligence-oriented approach to innovation than the romantic vision of an innovative entrepreneur or enterprise which stems from the more reduced vision of relation dynamics [56].…”

“…'Industry', in turn, is focused on the productive exercise. 'Society' and '(Natural) Environment' were added to this basic vision in order to envisage long-term social and environmental sustainability [55].…”