The innovation ecosystem is a complex, collaborative network of multiple actors (Jackson, 2011) co-creating value with sustainability as a key priority, with the aim of addressing global sustainability challenges. Firms are increasingly pressured to adopt sustainable practices, leveraging open innovation and stakeholder collaboration to build resilient and sustainability-oriented ecosystems (Aboelmaged & Hashem G, 2019). Ultimately, sustainability is both a challenge and an opportunity for the ecosystem to innovate and contribute to the general welfare of society. The purpose of this paper is to understand what innovation ecosystems for sustainability really are, which components they are made of and how they operate in order to be effectively implemented. To do so, a systematic review of the literature has been conducted, using the AAA model of “Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition” (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020) as the base of the research. Such a model defines innovation ecosystems as the evolving set of actors, activities, and artifacts, and the institutions and relations, including complementary and substitute relations, that are important for the innovative performance of an actor or a population of actors (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020). Since in the latter article innovation ecosystems were studied only for the purpose of creating a definition, without particular reference to sustainability, the AAA model was tailored accordingly. In our case, such a model has been extended to a second order code, identifying various elements within each group of Actors, Activities and Artifacts that compose the ecosystem; with the primary focus on sustainability as its main driver. So, in order to identify a precise structure which best describes the innovation ecosystem for sustainability, a qualitative study was carried out, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative papers as inputs of the database. Therefore, the study on the innovation ecosystem for sustainability was conducted through a systematic literature search on Scopus using key terms ("sustainab*", "collaborat*", "innovat*") and Boolean operators. Filters such as subject area, document type, language and timeframe refined the initial 1149 papers. Then, journals were further classified using SCImago (Q1 ranking) and AiIG's classification (Silver and above), narrowing the selection to 183 papers. Then, a qualitative assessment of abstracts and full texts, based on sustainability focus, collaboration and relevance to organizational contexts, resulted in a final database of 121 papers. At this point, the findings, discussions and conclusions were finally built. Moreover, 53 existing case studies from the papers were selected and utilized to build additional discussions and conclusions about the topic. The findings highlight that sustainability is the core pillar of innovation ecosystems with firms, partnerships and collaborative innovation as key drivers of it. Then, although government policies (Watson et al., 2023) and NGOs (Chen et al., 2017) play crucial supporting roles , sustainable policy implementation remains limited, requiring stronger regulatory frameworks and incentives. Partnerships between firms, academia and external stakeholders enhance knowledge exchange and technological advancements, while governance, products and services and sustainable business models need greater focus. Overall, the research led to the identification of new challenges and benefits related to this phenomenon, opening new paths and opportunities to further study the topic.
L’ecosistema per l’innovazione è una rete complessa e collaborativa di molteplici attori (Jackson, 2011) che co-creano valore priorizzando la sostenibilità; con l’obiettivo di affrontare le sfide ambientali globali. Le imprese sono sempre più sotto pressione per adottare pratiche sostenibili, sfruttando l’innovazione aperta e la collaborazione tra gli stakeholder per costruire ecosistemi resilienti e orientati alla sostenibilità (Aboelmaged & Hashem G, 2019). In definitiva, la sostenibilità rappresenta sia una sfida che un’opportunità per l’ecosistema di innovare e contribuire al benessere della società. Lo scopo di questo studio è comprendere cosa sono realmente gli ecosistemi di innovazione per la sostenibilità, come si comportano e come operano per essere efficacemente implementati. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, è stata condotta una revisione sistematica della letteratura, utilizzando come base di ricerca il modello AAA (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020). Tale modello definisce gli ecosistemi di innovazione come un insieme in evoluzione di attori, attività e artefatti, nonché di istituzioni e relazioni, comprese quelle complementari e sostitutive, che sono importanti per la performance innovativa di un attore o di una popolazione di attori (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020). Poiché nel suddetto articolo gli ecosistemi di innovazione sono stati studiati solo per definirne il concetto, senza un riferimento alla sostenibilità, il modello AAA è stato adattato di conseguenza. Nel nostro caso, il modello è stato esteso a un secondo livello di codifica, identificando vari elementi all'interno di ciascun gruppo di Attori, Attività e Artefatti che compongono l'ecosistema, con la sostenibilità come motore. Per individuare una struttura precisa che descrivesse al meglio l’ecosistema di innovazione per la sostenibilità, è stato quindi condotto uno studio qualitativo, utilizzando articoli sia quantitativi che qualitativi come input del database. L’analisi è stata effettuata attraverso una ricerca sistematica della letteratura su Scopus, utilizzando parole chiave ("sustainab", "collaborat", "innovat"*) e operatori booleani. L’applicazione di filtri come area tematica, tipo di documento, lingua e periodo temporale ha ridotto l’iniziale selezione di 1149 articoli. Successivamente, le riviste sono state ulteriormente classificate utilizzando SCImago (ranking Q1) e la classificazione AiIG (Silver e superiori), restringendo la selezione a 183 articoli. Infine, una valutazione qualitativa degli abstract e dei testi completi, basata sulla sostenibilità, collaborazione e rilevanza per i contesti organizzativi, ha portato a una selezione finale di 121 articoli. Inoltre, sono stati selezionati 53 studi di caso esistenti per approfondire ulteriormente le discussioni e le conclusioni sul tema. I risultati evidenziano che la sostenibilità è il pilastro fondamentale degli ecosistemi di innovazione, con imprese, partnership e innovazione collaborativa come principali motori. Sebbene le politiche governative (Watson et al., 2023) e le ONG (Chen et al., 2017) svolgano un ruolo di supporto cruciale, l’implementazione delle politiche sostenibili rimane limitata, richiedendo quadri normativi più solidi e incentivi più efficaci. Le partnership tra imprese, mondo accademico e stakeholder esterni favoriscono lo scambio di conoscenze e i progressi tecnologici, mentre la governance, i modelli di business sostenibili e lo sviluppo di prodotti e servizi necessitano di maggiore attenzione. Complessivamente, la ricerca ha portato all’identificazione di nuove sfide e benefici legati a questo fenomeno, aprendo nuove prospettive e opportunità per ulteriori studi.
Innovation ecosystem for sustainability: a systematic review on actors, activities and artifacts
SABBATINI, ALESSANDRO
2023/2024
Abstract
The innovation ecosystem is a complex, collaborative network of multiple actors (Jackson, 2011) co-creating value with sustainability as a key priority, with the aim of addressing global sustainability challenges. Firms are increasingly pressured to adopt sustainable practices, leveraging open innovation and stakeholder collaboration to build resilient and sustainability-oriented ecosystems (Aboelmaged & Hashem G, 2019). Ultimately, sustainability is both a challenge and an opportunity for the ecosystem to innovate and contribute to the general welfare of society. The purpose of this paper is to understand what innovation ecosystems for sustainability really are, which components they are made of and how they operate in order to be effectively implemented. To do so, a systematic review of the literature has been conducted, using the AAA model of “Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition” (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020) as the base of the research. Such a model defines innovation ecosystems as the evolving set of actors, activities, and artifacts, and the institutions and relations, including complementary and substitute relations, that are important for the innovative performance of an actor or a population of actors (Granstrand & Holgersson, 2020). Since in the latter article innovation ecosystems were studied only for the purpose of creating a definition, without particular reference to sustainability, the AAA model was tailored accordingly. In our case, such a model has been extended to a second order code, identifying various elements within each group of Actors, Activities and Artifacts that compose the ecosystem; with the primary focus on sustainability as its main driver. So, in order to identify a precise structure which best describes the innovation ecosystem for sustainability, a qualitative study was carried out, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative papers as inputs of the database. Therefore, the study on the innovation ecosystem for sustainability was conducted through a systematic literature search on Scopus using key terms ("sustainab*", "collaborat*", "innovat*") and Boolean operators. Filters such as subject area, document type, language and timeframe refined the initial 1149 papers. Then, journals were further classified using SCImago (Q1 ranking) and AiIG's classification (Silver and above), narrowing the selection to 183 papers. Then, a qualitative assessment of abstracts and full texts, based on sustainability focus, collaboration and relevance to organizational contexts, resulted in a final database of 121 papers. At this point, the findings, discussions and conclusions were finally built. Moreover, 53 existing case studies from the papers were selected and utilized to build additional discussions and conclusions about the topic. The findings highlight that sustainability is the core pillar of innovation ecosystems with firms, partnerships and collaborative innovation as key drivers of it. Then, although government policies (Watson et al., 2023) and NGOs (Chen et al., 2017) play crucial supporting roles , sustainable policy implementation remains limited, requiring stronger regulatory frameworks and incentives. Partnerships between firms, academia and external stakeholders enhance knowledge exchange and technological advancements, while governance, products and services and sustainable business models need greater focus. Overall, the research led to the identification of new challenges and benefits related to this phenomenon, opening new paths and opportunities to further study the topic.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/235262