ABSTRACT

The concept of ecosystem plays a central role in the recent debates on the unfolding of a new regime of innovation. In this paper, we contribute to these debates by clarifying the distinction between the emerging concept of ‘ecosystem of innovation’ from the established concept of ‘business ecosystems.’ Re-interpreting the case of the historical developments of the video game cluster of Montreal, we argue that the dynamics of knowledge creation and innovation in ‘ecosystems of innovation’ imply to adopt a wider scope and address knowledge flows between a diverse set of business ecosystems and between a business ecosystem and less formalised spaces dedicated to knowledge creation and exploration. We conclude suggesting the complementarity of ‘ecosystems of innovation’ with ‘business ecosystems’ and their generativity fuelled by creative tensions between formal and informal loci of knowledge creation, illustrated by diverse talent trajectories.

摘要

生态系统的概念在最近关于展开新的创新体制的辩论中发挥着核心作用。在本文中，我们通过阐明“创新生态系统”的新兴概念与“商业生态系统”的既定概念之间的区别，为这些辩论做出贡献。重新解释蒙特利尔视频游戏集群的历史发展案例，我们认为“创新生态系统”中的知识创造和创新动态意味着采用更广泛的范围并解决不同商业生态系统之间的知识流动以及商业生态系统和专门用于知识创造和探索的不太正式的空间之间。