Critical assets and value networks in resilient innovation ecosystems in the EU Outermost Regions

The authors share key insights gained regarding the effective management of critical assets in Resilient Innovation Ecosystems (RIEs) in the EU Outermost Regions (OR) through a program to “Discover, Incubate, and Accelerate Start-ups and SMEs” (DIAS) applied to 22 Start-Ups and SMEs in the Azores, Canaries, La Réunion and Madeira in the EU funded project “Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education in Europe’s Outermost Regions” (INCORE) project. DIAS is an experimental inductive case-study based research approach using Qualitative Comparative Analysis for assessment based on Diffusion of Innovation, Value Network Analysis and Knowledge Diffusion concepts. It is used to determine when the persistent phenomenon of “unfair advantage” (in the form of an intensive nexūs of collaboration) in RIEs emerges. The research results suggest that RIEs have archetypal structures that exist in multiple different constellations of relevant causal variables that may change dynamically over time. Identifying the currently most relevant archetypal structure is the most important step to identify what assets are critical at that specific evolutionary phase, and then selecting and applying the most suitable actionable interventions to accelerate the emergence of their RIEs through the encouragement of relevant swarm principles. The proposed change theory was not proven. Due to the fractal and transformative nature of RIEs, the cases covered in this study are seen as sufficiently representative to arrive at insights that can support the strategically needed transformation of the regions' entrepreneurial and innovation capacity.