Enablers, Equippers, Shapers and Movers: A typology of innovation intermediaries' interventions and the development of an emergent innovation system

Abstract

Innovation intermediaries are seen as crucial and critical players in the development of emergent high-tech sectors, though the understanding of their activities is not yet holistic and depends on geographical and sectoral specificities. This paper empirically deploys a recently developed classification within a case study of the New Space sector in Scotland, a previously peripheral region within Space Industry, now emerging as a global leader. Based on secondary document analysis and mixed-method empirical research using primary data from surveys, interviews and social network analysis, this study examines: the positioning of the innovation intermediation organisations in Scottish Space sector's innovation network and the interventions they deploy and effects they expect to have on the sectoral actors. Based on this analysis, a new typology of innovation intermediaries' interventions is proposed, to link them with their identified systemic roles of enablers, equippers, shapers and movers.