Building learning capacity in innovation ecosystems
After building and leading a science park, the next question was how many innovation hubs could develop their capabilities together. This has been a recurring theme in Jakob's longstanding work with SISP and other innovation hubs.
Innovation hubs need to develop too
Science parks, incubators and clusters are expected to connect actors, mobilise resources and create conditions for innovation. They often work on challenges that no single organisation owns.
Their value therefore lies both in their own activities and in what they make possible for others. This requires the ability to understand the context, question their own role and develop their ways of working.
A longstanding collaboration
For more than a decade, Jakob has worked with SISP (Swedish Incubators and Science Parks) and innovation hubs in Sweden and internationally.
The work has included national learning and development programmes, peer learning, peer review, method development, strategy work and analysis of roles and relationships in the innovation system.
Examining practice together
Peer learning brings together people working on similar challenges in different settings. They examine their practice, make assumptions visible and offer each other informed feedback.
The value lies in understanding why an approach works in one place and what conditions are needed for it to be useful elsewhere. This supports more thoughtful learning than simply copying a model.
From organisational learning to system learning
When several innovation hubs regularly examine their practice, shared patterns can emerge. Barriers that initially appeared local may turn out to concern funding, mandates or relationships in the wider system.
This connects to ALDAB's work on learning and system change: building structures in which experience is shared, interpreted and used to influence what actors do next.
Working on a challenge that extends beyond a single organisation?
An innovation programme, a project portfolio or an ecosystem ready for its next step. Let's discuss the challenges you face.
jakob@aldab.se