Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystems in the UK and Japan - Place-based policy scenarios and options
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Business School
Abstract
The proposed programme helps better understand local innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in Japan and the UK from international perspectives. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, our broad aim is to develop the capacity of local policymakers to build entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems by focusing on possible scenarios and options for place-based innovation and entrepreneurship policies. As a cross-national team of collaborators across the UK and Japan, we have a strong international profile with a number of research linkages across Europe, North America and East Asia, looking at the diversity of the institutional contexts for innovation and entrepreneurship. We will critically examine and further develop the concept of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems for policymakers by including these user communities in the concept-shaping activities.
The UK and Japan are known as amongst the most centralised countries in the OECD group, although both countries have witnessed the devolution and decentralisation processes in national and local economic policies over the last two decades. While science and innovation policies have been regarded in most countries as the responsibility of central government and have strong international dimensions, local and regional governments have increasingly become important actors in shaping these policy agendas as part of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
The following principal questions are addressed in the contexts of the UK and Japan:
- What types of policies and initiatives are needed in different places in order to build place-based entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems?
- In what ways should different levels of governments (i.e. national, regional and local levels) work together to help support the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems?; and
- How do we measure the successful "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems"? Which of the existing methodologies are useful in practice, and promote dialogues across places as well as between researchers and practitioners?
The seminars and workshops will form the main partnership building activities across collaborators in the UK and Japan. These events will have participants from local authorities, businesses, policy organisations as well as academic contributors. We are developing the synergetic programme with ongoing interactions with local policy makers and business bodies as well as business support organisations across the city-regions in both Japan and the UK. The key aim is to facilitate international academic discussion, and to enhance cross-national policy exchange and learning. Following on our partnership building activities, the latter part of the proposed programme focuses on the development of future research programmes, by further identifying innovative methodological strategies and key stakeholders, and by engaging with international thought leaders and policy communities.
The UK and Japan are known as amongst the most centralised countries in the OECD group, although both countries have witnessed the devolution and decentralisation processes in national and local economic policies over the last two decades. While science and innovation policies have been regarded in most countries as the responsibility of central government and have strong international dimensions, local and regional governments have increasingly become important actors in shaping these policy agendas as part of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
The following principal questions are addressed in the contexts of the UK and Japan:
- What types of policies and initiatives are needed in different places in order to build place-based entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems?
- In what ways should different levels of governments (i.e. national, regional and local levels) work together to help support the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems?; and
- How do we measure the successful "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems"? Which of the existing methodologies are useful in practice, and promote dialogues across places as well as between researchers and practitioners?
The seminars and workshops will form the main partnership building activities across collaborators in the UK and Japan. These events will have participants from local authorities, businesses, policy organisations as well as academic contributors. We are developing the synergetic programme with ongoing interactions with local policy makers and business bodies as well as business support organisations across the city-regions in both Japan and the UK. The key aim is to facilitate international academic discussion, and to enhance cross-national policy exchange and learning. Following on our partnership building activities, the latter part of the proposed programme focuses on the development of future research programmes, by further identifying innovative methodological strategies and key stakeholders, and by engaging with international thought leaders and policy communities.
Planned Impact
Our broad aim is to develop the capacity of local policymakers to build entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems by focusing on possible scenarios and options for place-based innovation and entrepreneurship policies. As an international team, we will critically examine and further develop the concept of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems for policymakers by including these user communities in the concept-shaping activities. This unique approach will result in close collaborations that will influence the development of our research activities, improve our knowledge exchange, and enable us to deliver stronger impact within the academic and policy communities. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, we will create a platform for an advanced research programme that informs the future of entrepreneurship and innovation policy directions across multiple levels of governments. Such place-based approaches involving coordinated efforts to engage with multiple government levels will enable this project to strengthen the conceptualisation of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems.
The proposed programme will have three main potential beneficiaries with respective areas of impact and modes of dissemination.
Firstly, for policy makers and practitioners. Working with the local policy makers and practitioners, we will identify the nature of diverse place-based entrepreneurial and innovation policies and appropriate methodologies for their evaluation.
Secondly, for those particularly interested in fostering support infrastructures surrounding the ecosystems. We engage with business support organisations (e.g. incubators, accelerators, SME business advisories) to identify factors for entrepreneurial growth in specific places given different national contexts and socio-economic environments.
Thirdly, for those interested in the 'theory and practices' of ecosystem concepts. We critically evaluate the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems as a conceptual and policy framework to be adopted in different national contexts. Outcomes will be presented at an international conference in November 2019 and will be published for further dissemination.
We are developing the synergetic programme with ongoing interactions with local policy makers and business bodies as well as business support organisations across the city-regions in both Japan and the UK. Collaborative partners include the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Entrepreneurial Scotland; the Welsh Government, Innovation Wales, Innovate UK, LEP Network in England and different types of city-regions in the UK; local authority professionals and national policy makers in Japan.
The seminars and workshops will provide opportunities to engage with policy and business communities cross-nationally and exchange policy options and scenarios, based on their cutting-edge knowledge of business and policy practices. Through the proposed programme of activities, we build collaborative and sustainable communication channels between local government bodies in the UK and Japan, that will continue after the life of this proposed programme of activities. This will be done by working closely with the Japan Local Government Centre in London and the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) in Japan to create opportunities for cross-national policy-research exchange and learning. To build wider international networks and cross-national policy leaning opportunities we create a partnership with an international body, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The proposed programme will have three main potential beneficiaries with respective areas of impact and modes of dissemination.
Firstly, for policy makers and practitioners. Working with the local policy makers and practitioners, we will identify the nature of diverse place-based entrepreneurial and innovation policies and appropriate methodologies for their evaluation.
Secondly, for those particularly interested in fostering support infrastructures surrounding the ecosystems. We engage with business support organisations (e.g. incubators, accelerators, SME business advisories) to identify factors for entrepreneurial growth in specific places given different national contexts and socio-economic environments.
Thirdly, for those interested in the 'theory and practices' of ecosystem concepts. We critically evaluate the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems as a conceptual and policy framework to be adopted in different national contexts. Outcomes will be presented at an international conference in November 2019 and will be published for further dissemination.
We are developing the synergetic programme with ongoing interactions with local policy makers and business bodies as well as business support organisations across the city-regions in both Japan and the UK. Collaborative partners include the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Entrepreneurial Scotland; the Welsh Government, Innovation Wales, Innovate UK, LEP Network in England and different types of city-regions in the UK; local authority professionals and national policy makers in Japan.
The seminars and workshops will provide opportunities to engage with policy and business communities cross-nationally and exchange policy options and scenarios, based on their cutting-edge knowledge of business and policy practices. Through the proposed programme of activities, we build collaborative and sustainable communication channels between local government bodies in the UK and Japan, that will continue after the life of this proposed programme of activities. This will be done by working closely with the Japan Local Government Centre in London and the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) in Japan to create opportunities for cross-national policy-research exchange and learning. To build wider international networks and cross-national policy leaning opportunities we create a partnership with an international body, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Organisations
- University of Edinburgh (Lead Research Organisation)
- National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (Collaboration)
- Japan Local Government Centre (Collaboration)
- Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal (Collaboration)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD (Collaboration)
- Hitotsubashi University (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- Cardiff University (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW (Collaboration)
- Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (Collaboration)
- ASTON UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Project Partner)
- University of Glasgow (Project Partner)
- Aston University (Project Partner)
- Nat Graduate Inst for Policy Studies (Project Partner)
Publications
Jianu Ruxandra
(2019)
The Challenges of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Poland: The Cases of Krakow and Warsaw
Kitagawa, F
(2022)
Strategic Intelligence for the Future of Places: Enabling Inclusive Economic Growth through the Opportunity Areas Analysis Tool
in Regional Studies
Prokop D
(2022)
Shareholder networks of university spinoff companies: firm development and regional characteristics
in Studies in Higher Education
Spigel B
(2020)
A manifesto for researching entrepreneurial ecosystems
in Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit
Spigel, Ben
(2020)
A manifesto of researching entrepreneurial ecosystem
| Description | Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystems in the UK and Japan: Place-based Scenarios and Options Entrepreneurial ecosystems have emerged as one of the most popular economic development policies in the last decade, and has become a major focus for entrepreneurship research. A recent project between researchers, government officials, and those engaged in building entrepreneurial ecosystems in Japan and the UK has highlighted the challenges of researching diverse and dynamic configurations of 'place-based' entrepreneurial ecosystems, and the different roles played by the variety of actors involved. We identified diverse contexts and challenges facing the two different nations, which have led to distinctive approaches to ecosystem policy. We also discussed new techniques for using social media and digital platform data to quantify ecosystem attributes like entrepreneurial culture or movement of people and ideas between firms, and new ways to use data to systematically identify dynamic entrepreneurial processes. We came to a view that more methodological innovation is needed to better capture the subtle ways in which ecosystems work including a variety of different localized economic, social, policy and cultural factors. |
| Exploitation Route | The research team wrote "A manifesto for researching entrepreneurial ecosystems" both in English and in Japanese. The Japanese document is going to be disseminated through the networks of the Japan Local Government Centre, across the local authorities in Japan. The English manuscript has been submitted to a journal aiming for both practitioners and academic audience. A research grant proposal has been submitted to the Japanese Research Council, the JSPS, in November 2019. This builds directly on the theme of this UK-Japan collaboration project. If successful, the new research will be built on the conceptual development of the UK-Japan SSH Connection Grant, and will have impact on local economic development policies and practices of local authorities in Japan. |
| Sectors | Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/research/news/entrepreneurial-innovation-ecosystems-uk-japan-workshops |
| Description | The outcomes of the ESRC funded project - supported under the ESRC-AHRC UK-Japan SSH Connections grants - have been used by non-academic users mainly in two ways. First, the workshop carried out in Tokyo in 2019 had 10 practitioner participants from the local authorities in Japan as a training opportunity. This was facilitated by the collaboration with the CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) in Japan, and its UK office, Japan Local Government Centre in London for the UK-Japan exchange. The workshop had over 100 participants from national and local governments, businesses and academia. International dialogues and comparative perspectives on entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems and place-based approaches across UK and Japan triggered cross-sectoral and international discussions and policy exchanges. Secondly, the workshop in the UK in 2019 led to a new commissioned study in the context of Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, focusing on entrepreneurial ecosystem in a rural context. The outcome of this study was launched as a report "Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders: Evolving Data-Driven Innovation and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem" with Forward from Professor Peter Mathieson Executive Director, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, The University of Edinburgh and Shona Haslam Leader, Scottish Borders Council. The findings from the ESRC project was specifically utilised in the ongoing policy landscape of Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, and in particular Data Driven Innovation initiative. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | A manifesto for researching entrepreneurial ecosystems (translated in Japanese) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://397349de-3caa-4f6a-8aac-b14f1d0b34a6.filesusr.com/ugd/ed3199_81d165fc2d2948b08698eb6a16df9f5... |
| Description | Research training workshop in Glasgow (day 2) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | In the second day of the workshop in Glasgow, we organised a session with a smaller group of researchers to identify the new contribution of ecosystem approaches. The session provided interactive training opportunity for early career researchers. The key discussion included: What types of ecosystem metrics and methodologies do we need? Who and what do current ecosystem metrics ignore? We shared new methodological practices such as social media and digital platform data to quantify ecosystem in a variety of contexts. |
| URL | https://medium.com/@maxnathan/working-hard-but-what-for-ed507c2691a |
| Description | UKRI-JST Joint Call of Artificial Intelligence and Society PATH-AI: Mapping an Intercultural Path to Privacy, Agency and Trust in Human-AI Ecosystems |
| Amount | £484,657 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 12/2022 |
| Description | Links to Japanese local authorities through Japan Local Government Centre |
| Organisation | Japan Local Government Centre |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Throughout the UK-Japan SSH project,the project team aims to build on this collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engage with policy and business communities cross-nationally, especially through the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), and the OECD. My research team engaged with the Japan Local Government Centre (JLGC) in London as part of the CLAIR, as non-academic partner. |
| Collaborator Contribution | JLGC staff participated in the second event of a UK-Japan research consortium looking at how policymakers in both countries can better understand the dynamics of economic development and innovation in regions and cities. Six individuals participated in the workshop in Tokyo from CLAIR Headquarter. |
| Impact | Held in Tokyo at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, the event heard from senior representatives of the Japanese Cabinet Office, the British Embassy in Japan, innovation-centred businesses and academic researchers specialising in innovation and ecosystem policies |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Links to the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) |
| Organisation | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The partnership includes institutional collaborations with the Japan Local Government Centre (JLGC) in London, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The research team invited policy makers from local, national and international levels to the workshop in the UK and in Japan to identify different government and governance approaches to entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) added value by sharing international government agendas and policy needs in terms of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems and different measurement approaches. For instance, a contributor from the OECD share their experiences about using ecosystems work for policy making and findings of the OECD case studies from different national contexts. |
| Impact | Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystems in the UK and Japan: Special Sessions at the Regional Studies Association Winter Conference (RSA) Winter conference in London 14-15 November 2019 |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Local Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem in Japan: Policy Evaluation based on Micro Data |
| Organisation | Hitotsubashi University |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I have developed research collaboration with a team led by Prof. Okamuro at Hitotsubashi University throughout the project. As a result of recent collaboration, I was invited to be an international co-investigator for a research grant proposal made in Japan with the research councils (JSPS). The PI of this collaborative research proposal is Professor Hiroyuki Okamuro, who is a Japanese PI for the ESRC SSH project. My contribution to this research partnership is mainly through the policy analysis focusing on the UK and providing international policy perspectives. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research team led by Prof. Okamuro at Hitotsubashi University developed a research grant proposal to investigate the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems in Japan building on the UK-Japan SSH project activities. This was directly facilitated by the conceptual development and international exchanges made through the workshop under the UK-Japan SSH project. The newly proposed research project will encompass an analysis of firm-level micro-data and evaluate the effectiveness of policy interventions both at local and national level. The main geographical focus of the research project is on Japan, but through the new partnership between the UK and Japan, there will be international exchange of research processes and outcomes. |
| Impact | The research proposal was submitted in November 2019, and it is too early to identify any outputs or outcomes resulting from this collaboration. The research team consists of mainly economists specialised in innovation and entrepreneurship, but includes resarchers from multi-disciplinary backgrounds, e.g. economic geography, public policy. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Local Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem in Japan: Policy Evaluation based on Micro Data |
| Organisation | Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I have developed research collaboration with a team led by Prof. Okamuro at Hitotsubashi University throughout the project. As a result of recent collaboration, I was invited to be an international co-investigator for a research grant proposal made in Japan with the research councils (JSPS). The PI of this collaborative research proposal is Professor Hiroyuki Okamuro, who is a Japanese PI for the ESRC SSH project. My contribution to this research partnership is mainly through the policy analysis focusing on the UK and providing international policy perspectives. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research team led by Prof. Okamuro at Hitotsubashi University developed a research grant proposal to investigate the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems in Japan building on the UK-Japan SSH project activities. This was directly facilitated by the conceptual development and international exchanges made through the workshop under the UK-Japan SSH project. The newly proposed research project will encompass an analysis of firm-level micro-data and evaluate the effectiveness of policy interventions both at local and national level. The main geographical focus of the research project is on Japan, but through the new partnership between the UK and Japan, there will be international exchange of research processes and outcomes. |
| Impact | The research proposal was submitted in November 2019, and it is too early to identify any outputs or outcomes resulting from this collaboration. The research team consists of mainly economists specialised in innovation and entrepreneurship, but includes resarchers from multi-disciplinary backgrounds, e.g. economic geography, public policy. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Scottish Borders Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem Scoping Study |
| Organisation | Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Head of Strategy, City Region Deal: Data Driven Innovation Initiative Programme Office attended the workshop in Glasgow in May 2019. He develped the idea of Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem scoping study through the workshop discussion, and we exchanged some ideas about the scope, diversity and inclusiveness issues of ecosystems. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The City Region Deal: Data Driven Innovation Initiative Programme Office came up with a proposal of a new study focusing on Scottish Borders, to which I agreed to lead in the spring/summer in 2020. |
| Impact | A new scoping study started in April 2020. The study was conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers including myself (business school) and a colleague (engineering). A report has been completed in December 2020 "Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders: Evolving Data-driven Innovation and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Preliminary Analysis Report" The final version of the report was launched in September 2021. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | The UK and Japanese academic consortium |
| Organisation | Aston University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK and Japanese academic team consists of members from Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield; Universities of Hitotsubashi, Tohoku, Toyo, Waseda and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), bringing international experiences from a diverse range of city-region and regional perspectives. The project team has built on collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engaged with policy and business communities cross-nationally. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research partnership enabled two international workshops held in 2019. The first workshop in Glasgow in May 2019, and the second one in Tokyo in June 2019. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, the research partners enabled the project team to critically examine and further develop the concept of "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems" by engaging with policy user communities. |
| Impact | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems - What do we know and what challenges do we need to overcome? 7 -8 May 2019, University of Glasgow Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation 24-25 June 2019, GRIPS, Tokyo The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, including economists, economic geographers, S&T and innovation policy researchers, entrepreneurship scholars. One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration is its impacts on PhD students and early career researchers. Throughout the international workshops and the RSA special session, we encouraged PhD students from our consortia to present their ongoing work. They formed close collaborative networks across institutions, sharing their methodological approaches and conceptual ideas. Some of the senior academics have acted as informal mentors to early to mid career academics, too, and provided guidance in terms of policy engagement and dissemination strategies. The research partnership has formed a good community of researchers interested in ecosystem approaches from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. New research proposals have been developed (one in Japan with a UK based researcher as Co-I), and another in the UK between the two universities, including an early career researcher. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | The UK and Japanese academic consortium |
| Organisation | Cardiff University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK and Japanese academic team consists of members from Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield; Universities of Hitotsubashi, Tohoku, Toyo, Waseda and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), bringing international experiences from a diverse range of city-region and regional perspectives. The project team has built on collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engaged with policy and business communities cross-nationally. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research partnership enabled two international workshops held in 2019. The first workshop in Glasgow in May 2019, and the second one in Tokyo in June 2019. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, the research partners enabled the project team to critically examine and further develop the concept of "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems" by engaging with policy user communities. |
| Impact | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems - What do we know and what challenges do we need to overcome? 7 -8 May 2019, University of Glasgow Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation 24-25 June 2019, GRIPS, Tokyo The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, including economists, economic geographers, S&T and innovation policy researchers, entrepreneurship scholars. One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration is its impacts on PhD students and early career researchers. Throughout the international workshops and the RSA special session, we encouraged PhD students from our consortia to present their ongoing work. They formed close collaborative networks across institutions, sharing their methodological approaches and conceptual ideas. Some of the senior academics have acted as informal mentors to early to mid career academics, too, and provided guidance in terms of policy engagement and dissemination strategies. The research partnership has formed a good community of researchers interested in ecosystem approaches from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. New research proposals have been developed (one in Japan with a UK based researcher as Co-I), and another in the UK between the two universities, including an early career researcher. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | The UK and Japanese academic consortium |
| Organisation | Hitotsubashi University |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK and Japanese academic team consists of members from Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield; Universities of Hitotsubashi, Tohoku, Toyo, Waseda and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), bringing international experiences from a diverse range of city-region and regional perspectives. The project team has built on collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engaged with policy and business communities cross-nationally. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research partnership enabled two international workshops held in 2019. The first workshop in Glasgow in May 2019, and the second one in Tokyo in June 2019. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, the research partners enabled the project team to critically examine and further develop the concept of "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems" by engaging with policy user communities. |
| Impact | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems - What do we know and what challenges do we need to overcome? 7 -8 May 2019, University of Glasgow Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation 24-25 June 2019, GRIPS, Tokyo The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, including economists, economic geographers, S&T and innovation policy researchers, entrepreneurship scholars. One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration is its impacts on PhD students and early career researchers. Throughout the international workshops and the RSA special session, we encouraged PhD students from our consortia to present their ongoing work. They formed close collaborative networks across institutions, sharing their methodological approaches and conceptual ideas. Some of the senior academics have acted as informal mentors to early to mid career academics, too, and provided guidance in terms of policy engagement and dissemination strategies. The research partnership has formed a good community of researchers interested in ecosystem approaches from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. New research proposals have been developed (one in Japan with a UK based researcher as Co-I), and another in the UK between the two universities, including an early career researcher. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | The UK and Japanese academic consortium |
| Organisation | National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK and Japanese academic team consists of members from Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield; Universities of Hitotsubashi, Tohoku, Toyo, Waseda and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), bringing international experiences from a diverse range of city-region and regional perspectives. The project team has built on collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engaged with policy and business communities cross-nationally. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research partnership enabled two international workshops held in 2019. The first workshop in Glasgow in May 2019, and the second one in Tokyo in June 2019. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, the research partners enabled the project team to critically examine and further develop the concept of "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems" by engaging with policy user communities. |
| Impact | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems - What do we know and what challenges do we need to overcome? 7 -8 May 2019, University of Glasgow Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation 24-25 June 2019, GRIPS, Tokyo The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, including economists, economic geographers, S&T and innovation policy researchers, entrepreneurship scholars. One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration is its impacts on PhD students and early career researchers. Throughout the international workshops and the RSA special session, we encouraged PhD students from our consortia to present their ongoing work. They formed close collaborative networks across institutions, sharing their methodological approaches and conceptual ideas. Some of the senior academics have acted as informal mentors to early to mid career academics, too, and provided guidance in terms of policy engagement and dissemination strategies. The research partnership has formed a good community of researchers interested in ecosystem approaches from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. New research proposals have been developed (one in Japan with a UK based researcher as Co-I), and another in the UK between the two universities, including an early career researcher. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | The UK and Japanese academic consortium |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK and Japanese academic team consists of members from Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield; Universities of Hitotsubashi, Tohoku, Toyo, Waseda and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), bringing international experiences from a diverse range of city-region and regional perspectives. The project team has built on collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engaged with policy and business communities cross-nationally. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research partnership enabled two international workshops held in 2019. The first workshop in Glasgow in May 2019, and the second one in Tokyo in June 2019. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, the research partners enabled the project team to critically examine and further develop the concept of "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems" by engaging with policy user communities. |
| Impact | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems - What do we know and what challenges do we need to overcome? 7 -8 May 2019, University of Glasgow Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation 24-25 June 2019, GRIPS, Tokyo The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, including economists, economic geographers, S&T and innovation policy researchers, entrepreneurship scholars. One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration is its impacts on PhD students and early career researchers. Throughout the international workshops and the RSA special session, we encouraged PhD students from our consortia to present their ongoing work. They formed close collaborative networks across institutions, sharing their methodological approaches and conceptual ideas. Some of the senior academics have acted as informal mentors to early to mid career academics, too, and provided guidance in terms of policy engagement and dissemination strategies. The research partnership has formed a good community of researchers interested in ecosystem approaches from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. New research proposals have been developed (one in Japan with a UK based researcher as Co-I), and another in the UK between the two universities, including an early career researcher. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | The UK and Japanese academic consortium |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The UK and Japanese academic team consists of members from Universities of Aston, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield; Universities of Hitotsubashi, Tohoku, Toyo, Waseda and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), bringing international experiences from a diverse range of city-region and regional perspectives. The project team has built on collaborative relationship with partners in the UK and Japan, and engaged with policy and business communities cross-nationally. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The research partnership enabled two international workshops held in 2019. The first workshop in Glasgow in May 2019, and the second one in Tokyo in June 2019. By building a partnership between the research and policy communities in the two countries, the research partners enabled the project team to critically examine and further develop the concept of "entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems" by engaging with policy user communities. |
| Impact | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems - What do we know and what challenges do we need to overcome? 7 -8 May 2019, University of Glasgow Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation 24-25 June 2019, GRIPS, Tokyo The collaboration is multi-disciplinary, including economists, economic geographers, S&T and innovation policy researchers, entrepreneurship scholars. One of the most successful outcomes of the collaboration is its impacts on PhD students and early career researchers. Throughout the international workshops and the RSA special session, we encouraged PhD students from our consortia to present their ongoing work. They formed close collaborative networks across institutions, sharing their methodological approaches and conceptual ideas. Some of the senior academics have acted as informal mentors to early to mid career academics, too, and provided guidance in terms of policy engagement and dissemination strategies. The research partnership has formed a good community of researchers interested in ecosystem approaches from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. New research proposals have been developed (one in Japan with a UK based researcher as Co-I), and another in the UK between the two universities, including an early career researcher. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystems in the UK and Japan: Special Sessions at the Regional Studies Association Winter Conference (RSA) Winter conference in London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | We organised a special session, 'Understanding the Configurations of Place-based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: New Conceptual and Methodological Approaches' (SS4) at the Regional Studies Association Winter Conference (#RSAWinter) in London, 14-15 November 2019. We invited wider contributions beyond the geographical scopes of the UK and Japan, and accepted 12 papers, which were presented across three sub-sessions (Chaired by Ben Spigel and Fumi Kitagawa from University of Edinburgh; and Christian Gherhes, University of Sheffield): i) Place-Based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Overview and Policy Issues ii) Understanding Place-Based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Methodological Approaches iii) Looking Into Place-Based Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Conceptual Development The first sub-session had contributors from the policy communities (e.g. European Commission, the OECD) followed by discussions on research-policy engagement. The third sub-session had a focus on PhD students and early career researchers and it included discussions on methodological challenges and new approaches. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.regionalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Fumi-Kitagawa-RSA-special-sessions-UEBS-r... |
| Description | Investing in regional equality: Lessons from four cities webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Governments around the world have been delivering policies to tackle inequality in their own populations. However, it is highly complex and there is no single answer. A panel discussion chaired by CIPFA's chief economist aims to share the findings of this global report where a case of Fukuoka city in Japan is discussed along with the cases in the US, France, Germany, seeking lessons for the UK. The audience includes public finance professionals and policy makers, sharing international insights and lessons on how to tackle regional inequality and levelling up. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.cipfa.org/training/i/investing-in-regional-equality--lessons-from-four-cities-20220303-o... |
| Description | Measuring entrepreneurial ecosystems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | More than 60 academics, practitioners, and policy makers from the UK and Japan met at the University of Glasgow. The workshop led and developed by the group of academics at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, focused on the issues of measurement and metrics - how can we measure entrepreneurial ecosystems and what challenges do we need to overcome? The first key note was given by Prof. Jonathan Levie. Drawing on his research and observation in Scotland and other international projects. Policy session started with Dr Jonathan Potter, Head of Entrepreneurship Policy and Analysis Unit, OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. Specific regional contexts of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems in Scotland were further elaborated by Ms. Chantale Tippet, NESTA; and Mr. James Muldoon, Head of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Support Policy, Scottish Government, talked about Scotland Can Do initiatives and opened up discussion about the nature of policy interventions. In the final session, Mapping ecosystems - new perspectives and emerging methodologies, the series of presentations demonstrated innovative new research methodologies to capture multi-dimensional ecosystems. The UK/Japan session aimed at sharing diverse perspectives to ecosystems across the two countries. The business and practitioner panel started off with Mr Gregory Sutch, CEO of Intralink Group, who highlighted the dynamics of global open innovation ecosystems from a business consultancy perspective, connecting start-ups and large multinationals at a global scale. He then illuminated the ongoing 'open Innovation revolution' in Japan, driven by 'existential threat to old economy companies'. Mr Simon Spier, techUK, highlighted the policy contexts of technology collaboration between the UK and Japan, and the positioning of tech companies in the global market. Mr Andrew Stevens of JLGC in London discussed the roles of knowledge brokers in the changing ecosystems in the UK and Japan, issues of multi-level governance and the value of city networks. The international participants including business practitioners and government practitioners engaged with policy-research discussion with participants from the UK. We had a session for early career researchers who shared mathodological challenges and inovation in entrepreneurial ecosystem approaches. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ecosystemukjapan.org/glasgow-workshop |
| Description | Place-Based Ecosystems: Making Connections between Entrepreneurship and Innovation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Held in Tokyo at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), over 100 participants gathered to discuss place-based innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems from cross-national perspectives. The participants from Japan included over 10 local government officials from across the country, delegates from the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), representatives of central government (e.g., Cabinet Office; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), professionals including banking and finance sectors, researchers and practitioners engaged in local planning and development, innovation and technology transfer officers from public research institutes, and NPOs working on entrepreneurial training, as well as academic researchers. The workshop started with the session Start-up policy, practices and open innovation - UK & Japan perspectives, including presentations by senior representatives of the Japanese Cabinet Office, the British Embassy in Tokyo, innovation-centred businesses, and academic researchers and practitioners specialising in innovation and ecosystem policies. This was followed by the afternoon session Place-based eco-systems - cases of metropolises - Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, with presentations by senior officers of Japanese metropolitan governments promoting industrial policies and strategies aimed at attracting foreign investors and entrepreneurs through international linkages, including Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. The final session Building Ecosystems - evaluating policies and data construction focused on the evidence-based policy design, in particular, the use of firm level 'big data' in evaluating the local economic development, and the effectiveness of innovation measures for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In each session, presentations by experts were followed by panel discussions, highlighting key points and issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ecosystemukjapan.org/tokyo-workshop |