A Typology Proposal for Innovation Hubs

Abstract

Innovation Hubs (IHs) catalyse open innovation and technology transfer within innovation ecosystems (IEs). IHs offer physical as well as virtual structures that enhance innovation. IHs around the world have different dynamics. They differ in terms of their characteristics, activities, and objectives, requiring distinctive forms of management and orchestration adapted to their realities. Thus, to subsidise universities, policy-makers and ecosystem orchestrators, we carried out a meta-synthesis, guided by the paradigm of Design Science Research, to identify IHs typologies. Recognising typologies and their dynamics reduces trial and error in the design, management and orchestration of IHs, increasing their performance. In this article, we present six typologies of IHs based on their dynamics and the class of priority problems they address: corporate, university, government, accelerators, co-working, and thematic. We also seek to explore connections between the typologies and the actors involved in the activities.