The role of open innovation intermediaries in entrepreneurial ecosystems design

Abstract

Unemployment levels in South Africa have reached astronomical levels. This has spurred the government to fund entrepreneurship initiatives such as the Enterprise and Supplier Development programmes. Thus it is vital to enable and create entrepreneurial ecosystems that attract, cultivate, and sustain entrepreneurs. This paper explores how entrepreneurial firms use external actors for value creation in an entrepreneurial ecosystem through intermediaries. The focus is on how an intermediary organisation can facilitate value co-creation. The authors present the results and findings from a case study of the Oslo Cancer Cluster incubator in Norway, and relate these findings to ecosystems management and design.