The Copernicus Programme aims to provide full, free and open access to data and information on our planet and its environment. Copernicus data create value for many end-users (e.g., organisations in the Energy, Insurance, and Health sectors). However, end-users often lack knowledge of the value of Copernicus data for their business, limiting their adoption and hindering the potential value for European citizens. Therefore, the European Commission is promoting the rising of innovation intermediaries to support end-users in adopting the Copernicus Data. Innovation intermediaries are public and private organisations supporting firm-level and system-level innovation. Innovation intermediaries provide links between organisations and share knowledge about technologies and knowledge-intensive products and services. Although the role of innovation intermediaries has been extensively studied in academic literature, end-users' perspective on innovation intermediaries supporting value creation is still under-investigated. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how and why innovation intermediaries enact for intermediated organisations. We investigated four main networks of innovation intermediaries in the Copernicus ecology. The Copernicus Accelerator, the Copernicus Academy, the DIAS platforms, and the Copernicus Relays We conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with managers of end-user organisations who leverage the intermediaries to adopt Copernicus data in their business. We inductively analyse our data, leveraging a knowledge-based view of the well-established VRIO (Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organisation) framework to sensemake our findings. We found that the Accelerator supports value creation by providing end-users with ecosystem knowledge. The Academy offers technical and ecosystem knowledge, bridging the gap between academia and industry. The DIAS enables end-users to vertically integrate towards the upstream through data accessibility and elaboration infrastructures. The Relays offer ecosystem knowledge and support new partnership development. Besides, taking the end-users' perspective, we discover that innovation intermediaries limit their value enactment when it is difficult to reduce the information asymmetry between the space sector and the end-users, or tend to provide end-users with standardized services rather than tailored ones. Our research contributes to innovation intermediaries and the project ecology body of knowledge. To contribute to practice, we provide the managers of the investigated innovation intermediaries with the VRIO model shaped on their organisations. They can use it to assess their value enactment from the end-users' perspective. Officers in the European Commission may benefit from this study by looking at the value enacted by the intermediaries, checking for their institutional mission alignment, and leveraging the strengths and weaknesses of each intermediary to balance their Copernicus intermediary portfolio.
ELICITING THE VALUE OF INNOVATION INTERMEDIARIES IN THE COPERNICUS ECOLOGY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
Paravano A.;Calzi A.;Locatelli G.;Trucco P.
2023-01-01
Abstract
The Copernicus Programme aims to provide full, free and open access to data and information on our planet and its environment. Copernicus data create value for many end-users (e.g., organisations in the Energy, Insurance, and Health sectors). However, end-users often lack knowledge of the value of Copernicus data for their business, limiting their adoption and hindering the potential value for European citizens. Therefore, the European Commission is promoting the rising of innovation intermediaries to support end-users in adopting the Copernicus Data. Innovation intermediaries are public and private organisations supporting firm-level and system-level innovation. Innovation intermediaries provide links between organisations and share knowledge about technologies and knowledge-intensive products and services. Although the role of innovation intermediaries has been extensively studied in academic literature, end-users' perspective on innovation intermediaries supporting value creation is still under-investigated. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how and why innovation intermediaries enact for intermediated organisations. We investigated four main networks of innovation intermediaries in the Copernicus ecology. The Copernicus Accelerator, the Copernicus Academy, the DIAS platforms, and the Copernicus Relays We conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with managers of end-user organisations who leverage the intermediaries to adopt Copernicus data in their business. We inductively analyse our data, leveraging a knowledge-based view of the well-established VRIO (Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organisation) framework to sensemake our findings. We found that the Accelerator supports value creation by providing end-users with ecosystem knowledge. The Academy offers technical and ecosystem knowledge, bridging the gap between academia and industry. The DIAS enables end-users to vertically integrate towards the upstream through data accessibility and elaboration infrastructures. The Relays offer ecosystem knowledge and support new partnership development. Besides, taking the end-users' perspective, we discover that innovation intermediaries limit their value enactment when it is difficult to reduce the information asymmetry between the space sector and the end-users, or tend to provide end-users with standardized services rather than tailored ones. Our research contributes to innovation intermediaries and the project ecology body of knowledge. To contribute to practice, we provide the managers of the investigated innovation intermediaries with the VRIO model shaped on their organisations. They can use it to assess their value enactment from the end-users' perspective. Officers in the European Commission may benefit from this study by looking at the value enacted by the intermediaries, checking for their institutional mission alignment, and leveraging the strengths and weaknesses of each intermediary to balance their Copernicus intermediary portfolio.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
