The course to sustainability: the role of university-related intermediaries in providing directionality to regional innovation initiatives

Abstract For a transformative innovation policy, implementing directionality is a challenge. Contributing to change requires proactive stimulation and prioritization of specific innovation activities. This is particularly challenging for stakeholders engaged in sustainability transitions. Therefore, we connected the concepts of directionality and intermediation to analyze university-related intermediaries in providing directionality in sustainability-oriented regional innovation initiatives. We conducted a comparative analysis of four German regional and university-led innovation initiatives based on 63 interviews. Our analysis provides insights into operational and strategic adaptations of intermediation practices in regional sustainability-oriented innovation initiatives. The adapted roles and activities of intermediaries we identified represent responses to directionality challenges and allow intermediaries to induce and maintain directionality. By extending their capabilities and taking on new roles, university-related intermediaries help to overcome transition impediments and thus facilitate sustainability transitions. By revealing the potential of university-related intermediaries to provide directionality, the analysis emphasizes their role in transitions and contributes to the ongoing discussion of how to implement directionality in transformative innovation policy practice.