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Innovation intermediaries are the ones in charge of promoting social and economic innovation, where some components or structures are missing, or have a weak performance. However, scientific evidence about intermediaries' role, strategies and capabilities is limited in the literature, especially for the local context in developing economies. In addressing this gap, this study explores two research questions: First, how intermediaries enable an innovativeorganizational-culture in peripheral regions? Second, how they make it sustainable? This contribution, through a case study, presents a complementary approach to the dynamic capabilities theory DCT and the interactive innovation model suggesting two key organizational capabilities to innovate OCI: empathy and proactivity within local innovation systems, which are key elements to develop innovative strategies.
Keywords: local innovation; innovation systems; innovation intermediaries; developing countries; organizational capacity; strategies and competences; dynamic capabilities theory DCT; interactive innovation model
1 Introduction
Innovation has been acknowledged in prosperous economies as a key force contributing to and sustaining economic and social development (Gonzalez 2020, Hoffecker 2018, Ibrahim 2021; Lundvall 2016). Holistic approaches analyze the innovation phenomena from two perspectives: innovation systems (set of components + set of interaction between those components) and innovation management (Granstrand and Holgersson 2020, Goffin and Mitchell 2017).
The dynamics and components of innovation systems, as well as the pillars to manage those systems have been documented and understood for over five decades in industrialized economies (Rasmus et al. 2021). The majority of innovation scholars concentrate their analysis in metropolitan areas or main cities in developed countries. (Asheim et al. 2006, Doloreux 2003, Hasche 2020, Zitek and Klimova 2016). Metropolitan areas usually count with or attract institutional framework, high-skilled human resources, knowledge or technology and multi-level networks (Doloreux and Dionne, 2008).
On the contrary, peripheral regions (or rural areas) often do not seem to have the proper components and structures for the emergence of innovation systems, due to the absence of human and technical resources as well as the weak interaction between actors (Doloreux and Dionne, 2008). The picture becomes even more complicated when the challenge of generating and managing innovation systems arises in rural areas in developing countries. Contreras and Dornberger (2022) argue that innovation in developing countries is opportunity-driven or necessity-driven. Innovation starts with people's creativity and the use of their resources...