Innovation ecosystems are often conceptualized as platform organizations. Still, many innovation ecosystems lack platforms and use organizational mechanisms for ecosystem alignment. We have studied these mechanisms as described in theory, and also empirically in EINST4INE industry partners The Linux Foundation and Plug and Play Tech Center (Arena2036). We have also included a comparative sociosymbolic analysis of these organizations with similar entities i.e., Y Combinator and Techstars. We found that non-platform-based business models facilitate collaboration in innovation ecosystems through creating a social space and enabling flows of economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capital. These innovation intermediaries increasingly leverage ecosystem infrastructure to create as-a-service business models. We hence define an innovation intermediary as an entity that facilitates the collaboration process, i.e. search and exchange of knowledge, ideas, and resources, and builds infrastructure between individuals and organizations to accelerate the innovation processes. We can then define an ecosystem builder as an innovation intermediary that focuses on creating ecosystem infrastructure.

Authors: Parul Chaudhary, Petra Nylund, Ferran Giones, Alexander Brem

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