THE IMPACT OF CRISIS ON INTERECOSYSTEMIC INNOVATION: DYNAMICS OF ENEL’S HYDROGEN ECOSYSTEM

Abstract

Crisis highlights conflicts but also helps disparate organisations rally around common objectives through forming ecosystemic relationships. To improve future crisis response, we study the influence of crisis-driven transitions on innovation in ecosystems. We illustrate the study with the dynamics of hydrogen innovation at Enel. Here, innovation caters to multiple value propositions; therefore, we define interecosystemic innovation as an innovation that addresses the value propositions of more than one ecosystem. The unexpected disruption caused by the energy crisis focuses attention on a single value proposition, thus fomenting the dynamic, temporal sequencing of interecosystemic innovation. This increases activity in the ecosystem core as well as interaction with the ecosystem periphery, allowing more rapid innovation iterations throughout the ecosystem. When operating in the intercept of ecosystems, firms need to consider the multiple value propositions of ecosystem participants to identify and mitigate tensions that may impede innovation.