This paper analyses Amsterdam’s Startup-in-Residence (SiR) programme as new type of policy to engage startups in the development of urban innovation through a challenge-based public procurement of innovation (PPI) process. The programme is being mimicked by other cities and government agencies, but so far there has not been a rigorous, theoretically-informed analysis of the approach. In this paper, we specify and focus on the role of city-based, public-affiliated intermediaries as initiators, moderators and influencers of conversations between startups and the local government. The main contribution of SiR as a PPI intermediation programme has been to launch new types of fruitful conversations on several levels, that lead to institutional innovations rather than direct solutions for urban problems or startup development. In this sense, SiR fulfils a role inquiring and ascribing urban challenges with values and notions of “worth” that preceded and shaped innovation directions. We also suggest that engaging startups is effective for only a limited bandwidth urban challenges; different types of intermediation are required to foster collaborative innovation in more complex settings.
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We investigate entrepreneurial ecosystems that support circular start-ups and innovation. We argue that entrepreneurial ecosystems for circularity are constellations of existing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems that extend across geographies and sectors. Our research question centres on understanding ecosystem intermediation that facilitates the embedding of circular start-ups in different ecosystems and addresses a pertinent gap in the literature about ecosystem intermediation for circular transitions and circular start-ups Focusing on the emerging circular transition in the textiles and apparel industry, we gathered data from in-depth interviews, field observations, and archival documentation over a seven-year period. Our findings show that entrepreneurial ecosystems for circular start-ups are purposefully intermediated at a meta level, combining elements of extant ecosystems to focus on circularity. Drawing on these insights, we conceptualize ecosystem intermediation as connecting diverse ecosystems across geographic and sectoral boundaries. Our study contributes to the literatures on circular entrepreneurship, circular ecosystems, and ecologies of system intermediation as well as provides practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.
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We investigate circular entrepreneurial ecosystems that support circular startups and innovation. We argue that circular entrepreneurial ecosystems are constellations of existing entrepreneurial ecosystems that extend across geographies and sectors, requiring ecosystem intermediaries to bridge institutional environments and provide access to actors and resources. Focusing on the emerging circular transition in the textiles and apparel industry, we gathered data from in-depth interviews, field observations, and archival documentation over a seven--year period. Our findings show that circular entrepreneurial ecosystems are purposefully intermediated at a meta level, generating nested and distributed ecosystems. To elucidate circular ecosystem intermediation, we devised a model of system level 5 intermediation that extends the conceptualization of ecologies of system intermediation across geographic and sector boundaries. Our study contributes to the literatures on circular entrepreneurship, circular ecosystems, and ecosystem intermediation as well as provides practical implications for practitioners and policy makers.
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