Assessing the influence of strategic choice on innovation ecosystems’ policy and performance: The case of European Digital Innovation Hubs

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From early 2023, the EU commission has funded a pan European network of 180 European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH). The aim of the EIDHs is to accelerate the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and public sector organisations across the European Union (EU). Each EDIH will work to help with societal challenges such as the transfer of technologies, infrastructure and innovations in the form of collaboration, cooperation and the training of private enterprises (SMEs) to future enhance their digital transformation capabilities.   

 

I am uniquely placed within one EDIH, located in Ireland which will afford me the opportunity to undertake participatory research.  

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Academic Literature

 

O’Connor & Audretsch (2022) states the theoretical development of ecosystems is still in its infancy and therefore more research was required. We can gain a deeper understanding of theories such as the management of innovation (Aghion and Tirole 1993), regional innovation systems (RIS) (Grandstrand and Hoggersson 2019), and enterprise growth (Mao 2009) by leveraging these theories as part of this study, we can better understand how policy can enable SMEs to adapt to the development and implementation of new innovative technologies. 

 

There is much research focus on regions and their innovation; (Granstrand & Holgersson 2020;  Audretsch, Cunningham, Kuratko, Lehmann, & Menter 2019; Chung, 2002; Wenbin, Badr, & Biennier 2012). However there is less known about how new intersections between the actors and activities within an ecosystem bring about the development of new artifacts: innovative technologies, new skills, new businesses and new policies. To gain a deep understanding of these intersections the study draws on strategic choice literature. Awino, Z. B. (2017) had identified an opportunity for future research to be conducted on the relationship between strategic choice and organisational performance. For this study we will apply the research to regional development and investigate the strategic choices made by actors leading the EDIHs and how their choices are impacting on the production of artifacts (policy).

 

Framing the study on the innovation ecosystem definition (Grandstrand and Hoggersson 2019) in a longitudinal PhD study to examine the actors (project managers) of EDIHs and their strategic choices that influence the development of artifacts (outputs) and what the overall contribution to the impact of a regions policy. 

 

Research Questions

 

This study will give us a unique opportunity to examine the causation of EDIHs at a micro level and will give rise to questions such as:  

 

1. Does actors strategic choices evolve over time, and if so why? 

2. How have the strategic choices varied across the EDIHs in contrasting small countries?  

3. What policies have had the greatest impact on the deployment of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)? 

 

Methods

 

I will apply a mixed method research approach, over two phases, the methods will include focus groups, interviews, and observation to track the evolution of strategic choices. I will apply quantitative research to gather secondary data from the EDIHs. By varying how I undertake the research it will allow me to take a deeper dive into any occurrences that may have been identified over the duration of the PhD. 

 

EDIHs are policymaker driven in order to create sustainable innovation eco systems. This research will advance our understanding of innovation ecosystems, regional development related to strategic choice and the impact of the creation of new policies (artifacts) on a regions competitive advantage.