Growing entrepreneurial ecosystems. Public intermediaries, policy learning, and regional innovation

Published date08 July 2019
Pages272-292
Date08 July 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JEPP-04-2019-0034
AuthorAllison Bramwell,Nicola Hepburn,David A. Wolfe
Subject MatterStrategy
Growing entrepreneurial
ecosystems
Public intermediaries, policy learning,
and regional innovation
Allison Bramwell
Department of Political Science,
University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
Nicola Hepburn
Ministry of Finance, Toronto, Canada, and
David A. Wolfe
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate experimentation over time in Ontario, Canada with
place-based innovation policies to support the development and coordination of entrepreneurial ecosystems
on a regional basis across the province.
Design/methodology/approach Tracing the policy learning process and successive adaptations in
program design over time, the authors provide a detailed case study of the evolution of the Ontario Network
of Entrepreneurs (ONE) from 2003 to the present.
Findings The authors find that the program has evolved in response to regular program reviews that
include broad input from ecosystem actors operating at multiple levels within the network, and that
intermediaries are key facilitators of inter- and intra-ecosystem linkages. However, program complexity and
coordination challenges suggest that place-based innovation policies, such as the ONE, should focus
specifically on innovation-intensive entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications These findings make three contributions to the theory and practice of
place-based innovation policy. First, these policies are by nature experimental because they must be able to flexibly
adapt according to policy learning and practitioner input from a wide variety of local contexts. Second, multilevel
interactions between provincial policymakers and regional ecosystem actors indicate that place-based innovation
policy is neither entirely driven by top downpolicy, nor bottom upnetworks but is rather a complex and
variable hybridblend of the two. Finally, publicly funded intermediaries perform essential inter- and intra-
ecosystem connective functions but system fragmentation and mission creepremain enduring policy challenges.
Originality/value The paper makes an original contribution to the literature by analyzing the
development of entrepreneurial policy support framework and situating the case study in the context of the
policy learning process involved in place-based innovation policymaking in North America.
Keywords Intermediaries, Innovation policy, Entrepreneurial ecosystems, Regional innovation,
Place-based policy
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The question of what governments can do to facilitate regional economic growth without
impeding market functioning remains an enduring policy challenge. As the economic and socio-
spatial implications of gl obalization accelerat e, debates about the role of the
state in the economy and how institutions shape and constrain economic performance become
increasingly salient. It is well established that regional growth and competitiveness
depend largely on the research-intensive institutions which generate novel ideas and
technologies and the highly skilled workforces that develop, apply and commercialize them.
Knowing that these innovation hotspotsdo not emerge just anywhere policymakers are
preoccupied with ways to seed the conditions for technology-intensive growth in other places
(Tödtling and Trippl, 2005).
Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Public Policy
Vol. 8 No. 2, 2019
pp. 272-292
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2045-2101
DOI 10.1108/JEPP-04-2019-0034
Received 23 April 2019
Accepted 24 April 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2045-2101.htm
272
JEPP
8,2
Innovation policy attention has recently shifted from industrial clustersto ways to
stimulate entrepreneurship on a regional basis and the institutional infrastructures to
support it. Experimentation is underway across OECD countries with public policies that
support the development of ecosystemsthat coordinate publicly funded research,
entrepreneurial supports and other knowledge transfer activities on a geographically
spatialized basis to allow for adaptation to local economic conditions (Bramwell et al., 2012;
Bradley et al., 2013). However, we know little about how these public policies are designed
and implemented, how they function in practice, and whether they have a demonstrable
impact on regional economic growth.
This research tracks experimentation over time with entrepreneurship support policies for
regional innovation in Ontario, Canada. Noteworthy for its flexible design and adaptive
approach, the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) program is a publicly funded network of
intermediaries mandated to facilitate technology transfer, commercialization of research and
knowledge-based entrepreneurship on a regional basis across the province of Ontario. Tracing
the interplay of policy learning and the role of public intermediaries over the past two decades,
our findings make several important contributions to our understanding of place-based policy
for regional innovation and entrepreneurship. First, we find that the program has undergone
substantial policy learning, evolving in important ways over time in response to periodic reviews
based on broad input from all ecosystem actors operating at multiple levels within the network.
These findings are consistent with the innovation management literature which argues that
public policies designed to support regional entrepreneurial ecosystemsare by necessity
experimental because they reflexively adapt according to policy learning and practitioner input
according to the context in which they operate (Wright, 2014; Autio et al., 2014). However,
findings of mission creepand mandate expansion as by-products of policy ambiguity also
substantiate concerns in the public entrepreneurship literature about the potential for suboptimal
performance that can accompany public intervention (Holcombe, 2002; Klein et al., 2010, 2013).
Second, consistent with work emphasizing the multi-level nature of innovation policy, we
find that policy adaptation to support ecosystem development in Ontario is neither driven
entirely top-downby macro-institutionalpolicymakers nor bottom-upby regional ecosystem
actors, but is rather a somewhat messy,multi-dimensional, and variable hybridblend of the
two (Uyarra and Flanagan, 2016; Bradford and Bramwell, 2016). Building on this point, we find
that publicly funded ONE intermediaries simultaneously act as regional entrepreneurial service
delivery organizations and as crucial transmission mechanismsthat facilitate intra-and inter-
ecosystem knowledge exchange (Kivimaa, 2014; Bjørnskov and Foss, 2016). However, program
complexity and system fragmentation remain an enduring policy challenge suggesting that
from an efficiency perspective, place-based innovation policies should retain a streamlined focus
on innovation-intensive, as opposed to other, forms of entrepreneurship (Alvedalen and
Boschma, 2017).
Our analysis proceeds as follows. In the first section we provide a brief overview of the
policy rationale for supporting for entrepreneurship and regional innovation. In the second
section we examine entrepreneurial ecosystemsin more detail, developing an analytical
framework that encompasses the context, intermediaries and policy learning dynamics
involved. In the remaining sections we apply this framework to an analysis of the ONE
program, empirically examining the role of public intermediaries and the process of policy
learning and program evolution over two decades and conclude with a discussion of
implications for the theory and practice.
2. Entrepreneurial ecosystems and regional innovation: policy, institutions
and place
Innovation-intensive economic growth follows unique and place-specific pathways within
global, national and sub-national markets, benefitting some regions and disadvantaging others.
273
Growing
entrepreneurial
ecosystems

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