Innovation Ecosystems: What Makes them Responsive during Emergencies?

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we examine what makes an innovation ecosystem responsive during emergencies. We studied the innovation ecosystem within Kerala (India) during emergencies that led to two emergency‐oriented innovations, namely KeralaRescue (developed for Kerala Floods 2018) and CoronaSafe (developed for COVID‐19), drawing on insights from strategic agility and institutional theory literature. We identified the enactment of three meta‐capabilities of agility by the innovation ecosystem, which made it responsive during the emergencies, namely, eco‐centric strategic sensitivity, eco‐centric resource fluidity and eco‐centric collective commitment. Further, we found that cognitive, structural and symbolic institutional arrangements facilitated the enactment of these eco‐centric strategic agility meta‐capabilities within the innovation ecosystem during the emergency. Our paper advances theory on innovation ecosystems and strategic agility, and generates implications for innovators and policymakers, developing solutions for COVID‐19 and other emergencies.

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