Quadra Helix Model application in product development for innovation and creative district

Innovation districts have emerged as dynamic ecosystems where academia, industry, government, and civil society converge to co-create solutions to complex urban challenges. Yet existing product development frameworks rarely provide structured guidance on how to embed multi-stakeholder collaboration into each phase of the development process, leaving a gap between innovation theory and practice. This study addresses that gap by integrating an adapted product development framework with the Quadruple Helix Model, which extends the traditional Triple Helix by recognizing civil society as an active contributor to innovation rather than a passive end-user. The integrated approach was applied across eight case studies in Latvian innovation and creative districts, combining semi-structured interviews, co-creation workshops, field observations, and secondary data analysis. The findings show that embedding QHM collaboration into each development phase, from preliminary district analysis through prototyping to final pitch, produces more contextually relevant, inclusive, and socially accepted products. Key enablers include structured stakeholder engagement, iterative feedback loops, and the use of creative methodologies such as SCAMPER, TRIZ, and the NABC framework. The study offers practitioners and policymakers a replicable methodology for aligning multi-stakeholder efforts in product development within innovation ecosystems.