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Innovation ecosystems consist of independent and yet interdependent enterprises and actors. This constitutes a challenge for innovation leadership to set the direction to pursue UN SDGs. Enhanced insights and understandings of how collaborative innovation leadership can be conducted in practice are revealed in two cases conducted using a participatory action research approach. Hereby theory and practice are linked by the ecosystem participant actions to reach competitiveness of the offshore wind energy ecosystem compared to traditional/other renewable energy sources pursuing UN SDG number 7 of ‘affordable and clean energy’. The two cases are situated in ports in offshore wind energy innovation ecosystems, respectively in the Baltic Sea and in the North Sea. The first case contains complementary ecosystem participants with both leadership and expert positions. The second case contains both complementary and competitive ecosystem participants with leadership positions. The findings note that both cases can use collaborative innovation leadership through the point of origin in the guiding star of the value proposition at ecosystem level to go beyond their own enterprise self-interest. Next, collaborative innovation leadership is based in heterogeneities of both knowledge domains and individual and organisational behaviours for the innovative imagination of future needed initiatives for collaborative design-based sensemaking. A short-term challenge is present from reduced revenue in own enterprise from future needed initiatives. This short-term impact needs to be addressed for enhanced long-term robustness. The findings are summarised in a model for dissemination of collaborative innovation leadership in ecosystems to pursue UN SDGs in practice.

This chapter provides an integrated overview of digital implementation in smart city ecosystems, focusing on the data ecosystem, the data value chain, and the digital implementation in smart cities. It acknowledges the opportunities and challenges presented by the growth of big data and its impact on delivering public services and coordinating local ecosystems in smart cities. This chapter introduces the concept of a smart city data ecosystem and explores the implementation of digital solutions, highlighting the role of local management and internal and external providers. It examines the digitalization of processes and services, technological infrastructure, and social media in the context of the smart city, emphasizing the interaction between local and national data ecosystems. This chapter incorporates interviews with smart city managers, policymakers, and technicians involved in the digital development process, offering valuable insights into the practical implementation and usage of data management within smart cities and the potential impact on urban development.

This chapter examines the impact of smart city projects on the economic and business environment, with a specific focus on their potential to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. It highlights how smart cities create an enabling environment for new businesses, start-ups, and promotes gender and green entrepreneurship, while enhancing urban properties and contributing to the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem. The exponential growth of smart city projects worldwide has underscored the critical relationship between smart cities and the entrepreneurial ecosystem for city prosperity and competitiveness. This chapter explores the interplay between smart cities and the economic environment, emphasizing their role as hubs for innovation and business creation. It analyzes the influence of smart city ecosystems and economic factors on local growth and economic outcomes, drawing on international research and factual data. This chapter evaluates the economic outcomes of smart cities, including their impact on the economic environment, business creation, start-ups, innovative and green companies, as well as gender entrepreneurship. This chapter emphasizes the significance of smart city implementation in driving economic advancements within both the urban and economic landscapes. Finally, this chapter concludes by presenting a conceptual framework that synthesizes the insights gained, providing a comprehensive understanding of the economic impact of smart cities and offering a roadmap for further exploration of this topic.

This empirical chapter explores the case of Baltic Creative Community Interest Company (BC CIC), a creative hub that enabled and demonstrated intrapersonal entrepreneurial capitals (Pret et al., 2016) to adapt quickly and develop novel offers for their tenants during an unprecedented period of crisis and change in the wider ecosystem. BCCIC is a community-owned property development company established to regenerate an underused post-industrial area in Liverpool and support the Creative and Digital community. Over the past decade, they have become a creative hub where small, unique micro-businesses thrive alongside more established enterprises.

Using an organisational ethnographic approach, the authors highlight the complexity in the conversion of entrepreneurial capitals and how this has demonstrated resilience and adaptability in the CIC during the global coronavirus pandemic in the 2020s. During the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, The CIC responded swiftly to tenants by providing a wide variety of business support initiatives. Regular communications on sector-specific COVID-19 operational guidance and a support programme to help tenants apply for Liverpool City Council Small Business Support grants.

The establishment of this hub for creative entrepreneurs prior to the recent disruption proved invaluable. Although they were severely tested, emerging behaviours, such as agility, adaptability, and resilience during periods of crisis, were identified. This chapter offers key insights for scholars and those leading on creative hubs and cluster policy development and economic initiatives for creative sector support regionally, nationally, and internationally.

This chapter compares the current biodiversity practices of higher education institutions (HEIs) and their learning effects of the Global North and South. It particularly explores the HEIs’ strategies targeting biodiversity and ecosystem services preservation. In order to answer the research question, a qualitative content analysis of published sustainability reports of the systematically selected HEIs was performed. The Times Higher Education (THE) was used to select HEIs. The results show that biodiversity reporting and management is still in its early stages in HEIs from both the Global North and South and could benefit from further research and suggestions for improvement. One implication for the HEIs is that they could increase public awareness and knowledge of biodiversity through the integration of this topic into their curricula, more research projects on biodiversity, and operations on and off campus.

In this chapter, the author proceeds to explore the second ‘C’ in the 3C Model of Taoism: conversation, with an emphasis on ecological sustainability. The discussion delves into the connections between Taoism and deep ecology, eco-effectiveness and eco-efficiency, and the Diderot effect and sustainable consumption. Taoism underscores the value of maintaining balance with nature and regards the natural world as a wellspring of wisdom and inspiration. Taoism and deep ecology share many philosophical similarities. Both perspectives highlight the importance of cherishing all living beings, coexisting peacefully with nature, and acknowledging that humans are a small component of a larger ecosystem. Taoism strongly accentuates the interconnectivity of all things and the critical need for balance between nature and human life. Along with promoting harmony and respect for the environment, deep ecology also advocates for social and political reform to protect the ecosystem. These two approaches emphasize the need to understand our position in the world and how our actions affect the environment and all living organisms. The wisdom of Taoism perceives sustainability as encompassing the entire ecosystem, an intricate network of life with its abundant and diverse range of species. This view aligns with the principles of deep ecology, which sees the ecosystem as a living entity in which humanity is merely one component.

Innovation is critical to the tourism industry. Living Labs (LLs) are innovation ecosystems which are becoming popular in tourism. LLs are a model of open innovation characterized by a networked approach to innovation. Local communities and businesses are usually excluded from processes of decision-making concerning the management of tourism. LLs enable local communities' participation in the sustainable development of tourism, thereby providing them the opportunity to increase their share of benefits. This chapter focuses on a case study of an LL recently created in Portugal and discusses LLs as an environment for tourism innovation where the local community is stimulated to explore competencies to cocreate value.

This research aims to analyze how companies in the industry act as orchestrators and manage participants in their networks. The service industry has received little attention from scholars in this field, and this research gap was investigated in this study. Qualitative case study research with an exploratory approach is applied in this research so that in-depth insights can be obtained. Mamikos.com, a platform for room rent in Indonesia, was used as the research subject. Mamikos does not only facilitate tenants to find rooms to live in but also manages how landlords can serve tenants better and help tenants understand what the landlords want. In other words, Mamikos seeks to smoothen the value stream from landlords to tenants and vice versa. This research has implications that the value orchestrator must be able to facilitate the parties in the ecosystem to obtain the fundamental values needed and other side values so that they are loyal to the ecosystem managed by the orchestrator.