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Since the emergence of various systemic perspectives on innovation, studies been emphasizing the larger socio-technical systems surrounding innovations and the role of policy interventions in stimulating their functioning. Far less attention has, however, been given to how the development of such research and innovation ecosystems can actively and practically be stimulated by (other) individual ecosystem actors. Focusing on the role of capabilities of ecosystems could therefore provide an interesting perspective for understanding and stimulating an ecosystem's development. In this research-in-progress we follow a qualitative approach based on a single case study methodology, focusing on the R&I ecosystem that the Dutch NXTGEN high-tech programme is shaping. Our research aims to contribute to understanding how the development of ecosystems is influenced by and can be stimulated through dynamic ecosystem capabilities. Besides contributing to a better theoretical understanding, our research especially aims to provide actionable insights to ecosystem practitioners to help them steer the development of their ecosystems towards their societal goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exogenous radical technological changes often threaten firms' organizational identity. Many organizations, be it incumbent or new entrant, need to reinvent themselves in light of such technological changes, if they can. To contribute to research on organizational identity and firm responses to radical technological change, we adopt a multifaceted view of organizational identity and emphasize that who or what a firm is, is as important as what a firm does and why. Based on a qualitative, multi-case study on the responses of Dutch music companies to the emergence of digitalization, we explore how this identity-strategy nexus plays our during radical technological change. Based on our analysis, we identify three identity-strategy response mechanisms. In identity affirmation, firms prioritize their identity and incorporate radical technologies to fit their organizational identity. In identity hedging and identity accommodation firms prioritize strategy and suspend organizational identity in favour of strategic change, which over time reconfigures organizational identity. This provides an alternative explanation for the heterogeneity in firm responses to the same radical technological change. The differences across these three response mechanisms yield important insights for the growing study of the intersection of radical technological change and the OI literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with the current societal challenges of today, a new era of innovation policy is emerging, focused on transformation failures and the important task to tackle societal problems. Mission-oriented innovation policy (MIP), is one example of such transformative innovation policies. In contrast to previous innovation policies, we argue that mission-oriented innovation policies distinguish themselves by its explicit focus on the involvement of citizens; citizen engagement is a core element of missions to enable societal transitions. We present a theoretical framework to understand and explicate citizen engagement in mission-oriented innovation policy processes and discuss various methods and tools to design for citizen engagement in a way that is tailored to the mission at hand [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of research on technological disruption has demonstrated that de alia entrants, i.e., firms with pre-existing technological activities in other fields, struggle in nascent technological fields. In contrast, de novo entrants, i.e., firms with no pre-existing technological activities in other fields prior to entry, are seen as the main drivers of technological change in nascent technological fields. The underlying mechanism is that the entry status of a firm, i.e., de alia or de novo, influences the product performance of the firm, due to an imprinting effect that has a long-lasting influence on product problem-solving activities. In this study, we argue that this relationship is moderated by the use of two knowledge search strategies: using mature knowledge and using external knowledge. Analyzing large-scale archival data on the technological and product activities of firms in the wind energy industry, we find that de alia entrants outperform de novo entrants when using mature knowledge. Moreover, after conducting several post-hoc analyses, we discover that de alia entrants perform considerably better when they rely more extensively on knowledge from de novo entrants. These findings have important implications for the literature on technological discontinuities and knowledge search strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the challenges of coping with disruptive innovations have inspired researchers to examine firms' individual responses, the literature has remained largely silent on how responses are often joint between competitors in an industry, and that the joint or coopetitive activities and moves, and their underlying logics, change over time as firms cope with the disruption. Using an in-depth case study approach, focusing on coopetitive moves within a platform-based ecosystem, we study nine firms that operate within the fundamentally disrupted music industry. These otherwise competing firms nevertheless collaborate to introduce a new platform in the market as a response to the disruption. Our findings have three important implications. First, coopetition turns out to be a viable strategic response to disruption, enabling firms, including incumbents, to develop their own "disruptive capability": opportunities identified, developed, and successfully pursued were beyond the reach of each individual firm, and required collaboration. Second, we distinguish three distinct phases in the coopetition, and show that the nature of the coopetition, and the governing logic of coopetition differ between these. Third, we identify specific characteristics for multilateral coopetition: during coopetition among multiple firms, various types of activities occur, and are combined, simultaneously. As a result, coopetition unfolds less sequential (i.e. one activity after another) and more parallel and complex than previously assumed. Tensions among coopetitors therefore not only arise because of inherent organizational differences or because of the disruption, but also from the changing cross-coopetitors interactions over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As firms are increasingly exposed to disruptive innovations that affect their operations, their ability to effectively respond to such disruptions is essential to both their competitiveness and long term success. This study contributes to existing disruptive innovation research by going beyond the mere identification of the effect of, and response to disruptive innovations to provide a better understanding of the disruptive innovation process. In addition, this study contributes to existing organization and strategy research by addressing a firm's strategic behavior during disruptive innovations in order to provide more insights into the adaptive behavior of firms in response to disruptive innovations. Using a case study approach, this study illustrates how firms respond to disruptive innovations over time and why these responses differ. The results illustrate "polar cases" -or seemingly similar cases that evaluate and respond to disruptive innovations differently-, and "polar strategies" -or seemingly different strategies that both enable firms to cope with disruptive innovations effectively. This study further explicates the interplay of awareness and motivation in constructing these "polar" organizational responses to disruptive innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]