Orchestrators of innovation networks in the city level: the case of Pacto Alegre

• Autor(a) principal: Mignoni, Julhete
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Bittencourt, Bruno Anicet, Silva, Silvio Bitencourt da, Zen, Aurora Carneiro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração e Inovação
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rai/article/view/215943
• topic: Innovation networks; Orchestration; Orchestrators

Purpose – This paper investigates the roles and activities of the orchestrators of innovation networksconstituted within cities. In this sense, the authors expected to contribute for research related to the roles andactivities of the orchestrators of innovation networks constituted in the scope of cities given the large numberand diversity of complex and multiple dimensions social actors (Castells & Borja, 1996; Reypens, Lievens &Blazevic, 2019).Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted an exploratory research with a single case studyin depth. The case chosen for the paper is the case of Pacto Alegre. The case selection criterion was therelevance of the Pacto Alegre Case in the construction of an innovation network in the city of Porto Alegre, RioGrande do Sul, Brazil. The Pacto Alegre network was proposed by the Alliance for Innovation (composed of thethree main Universities in the city: UFRGS, PUCRS and UNISINOS) and by the Municipality of Porto Alegre. Inaddition to these actors, the network counts on financial and development institutions as sponsors, with mediapartners, with design partners, with an advisory board (composed of five professionals considered references indifferent themes) and composed by more than 100 companies, associations and institutions from different areas(Pacto Alegre, 2019). Data were collected from 09/20/2020 to 11/30/2020 through in-depth interviews,documentary research and non-participant observation.Findings – In this research, the authors highlighted the city as a community that involves and integratesvarious actors, such as citizens and companies, to collaborative innovation activities. For this, they proposed aframework on innovation networks and network orchestration. In this direction, seven dimensions of the“orchestration of innovation networks” were assumed as a result of the combination of previous studies byDhanaraj and Parke (2006), Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al. (2011) and da Silva and Bitencourt (2019). In thesequence, different roles of orchestrators associated with the literature were adopted based on the work byPikkarainen et al. (2017) and Nielsen and Gausdal (2017).Research limitations/implications – The authors’ results advance in relation to other fields by promotingthe expansion of the “orchestration of innovation networks” model with the combination of distinct elementsfrom the literature in a coherent whole (agenda setting, mobilization, network stabilization, creation andtransfer of knowledge, innovation appropriability, coordination and co-creation) and in the validation of itsapplicability in the context of the innovation network studied. In addition, when relating different roles oforchestrators to the seven dimensions studied, it was realized that there is no linear and objective relationshipbetween the dimensions and roles of the orchestrator, as in each dimension there may be more than one rolebeing played in the orchestration.Practical implications – Therefore, the findings suggest two theoretical contributions. First, the authorsidentified a role not discussed in the literature, here called the communicator. In the case analysis, the authorsobserved the communicator role through functions performed by a media partner of the innovation networkand by a group of civil society engaged in the city’s causes. Second, the authors indicated a new dimension oforchestration related to the management of communication in the innovation network and its externalities suchas p. ex. civil and organized society, characteristic of an innovation network set up within a city.Originality/value – Although several studies have proposed advances in the understanding of theorchestration of innovation networks (Dhanaraj & Parkhe, 2006; Ritala, Armila & Blomqvist, 2009; Nambisan& Sawhney, 2011; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2011), the discussion on the topic is still a black box (Nilsen &Gausdal, 2017). More specifically, the authors identified a gap in the literature about the role and activities ofactors in the city level. Few studies connected the regional dimension with the roles and activities of theorchestrators (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen et al., 2011; Pikkarainen et al., 2017), raising several challenges andopportunities to be considered by academics and managers.