Content area
Full text
Abstract: The research on leadership of interorganizational networks appears to be comparatively recent, limited in number and concentrating predominantly upon for-profit firms. Also orchestration of innovation networks seems to be a recent phenomenon. Our research advances these areas of research conceptually from public-private networks point of view in dynamic ecosystems and also from a practice point of view, based on an action design research. Literature findings on orchestration of open innovation networks are discussed. These are followed by the findings from a Finnish research programme, verifying and expanding the concepts of determinants for innovation orchestration with network properties. The findings help innovation practitioners and researchers within the innovation management community to better understand collaborative practices in open innovation networks.
Keywords: Orchestration; open innovation; interorganizational networks; innovation ecosystem; capabilities; PPP; public-private-partnerships; heterarchical networks
Introduction
Innovation in networks cannot always be managed; often orchestration - the process of creating conditions and support infrastructure whereby innovation can emerge and be sustained - is required. Many innovation management processes in organizations - private or public - are well understood and documented, contrary to the processes of orchestrating open innovation networks and innovation ecosystems. Our paper addresses these processes involved in creating, supporting and maintaining a regional innovation ecosystem in which diverse parties - large industries and SME's, local government bodies, knowledge institutions and diverse other actors - participate. Together they form several open innovation networks within a regional innovation ecosystem, for collaboratively creating products and services for local and global markets, addressing issues of social, societal and sustainable innovation. In these networks, the participants are not hierarchically organized around hub firms but form dynamic partnerships on equal basis, coming from private, public and civil sectors.
Müller-Seitz have found the research on leadership of interorganizational networks comparatively recent, limited in number and concentrating predominantly upon for-profit firms (Müller-Seitz, 2011). The previous research has been primarily oriented towards the fields of network and public management or business networks but not towards public-private networks, the focus of our research.
Orchestration of innovation networks seems also to be a recent phenomenon. Dhanaraj and Parkhe have studied orchestration of innovation networks but only around hub firms (Dhanaraj & Parkhe, 2006). Ritala et al. have studied individual and organizational determinants for innovation orchestration...