Generating innovation amidst grand challenges and disruption, particularly in and across established industries, remains a challenge for many firms. When advancing technological change to address this, the environment or setting can greatly hinder or help in the innovation process. Orchestrators can act as a neutral broker in this process to alleviate tensions and facilitate effective co-creation and collaboration.

This research is a qualitative inquiry with an ethnographic approach to gain an in-depth understanding and critical assessment of the role of an orchestrator in an innovation ecosystem with the goal of shaping technological change for the future of production and mobility. We hope to contribute deeper understanding of how alignments are found in multi-actor settings and effective orchestration profiles for this. This research also supports the development of best practices for enabling multi-actor collaboration and innovation in a future-focused context.

Authors: Jessica Fishburn, Argyro Almpanopoulou, Paavo Ritala, Ferran Giones

Abstract presented during the ISPIM Connects Athens Conference – “The Role of innovation: Past, Present, Future”, in Athens, Greece 28-30 November 2022.