Design and active research for sdg Ecosystems of sustainable innovation Design e ricerca attiva per gli sdg Ecosistemi di innovazione sostenibile

Innovation ecosystems are multilayered sociotechnical networks whose development is shaped by co-design, collaborative governance, and strategic leadership. This paper proposes a methodological framework to assess the design’s contribution to innovation ecosystems at the meso level. Grounded in research-through-design, the study combines literature review, AI-assisted KPI estimation, and expert interviews to analyse three innovation ecosystems: the São Paulo, Lombardy, and Stockholm-Uppsala regions. The findings suggest that design is structurally present across the three contexts, but largely absent from measurement systems. The study concludes by proposing a broader research agenda for codesigning measurement infrastructures and evidence-based design policy aligned with SDGs 9 and 17.