July 2019 Download this article as a PDF

From the Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to the July 2019 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review. The authors in this issue share insights on business incubators and accelerators, business model design, ecosystem knowledge management, and digital payment adoption in Africa.

The first two articles were developed from papers presented at ISPIM Connects Ottawa, a three-day event held in Ottawa, Canada, from April 7–10, 2019. ISPIM Connects Ottawa brought together world-renowned innovation managers, researchers, and business and thought leaders to share insights on specific local and global innovation challenges as well as general innovation management topics. The TIM Review and its associated academic program at Carleton University, the TIM Program, were proud to be the local hosts of the event in collaboration with the International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) and local partners.

First, Kristina Lukosiute and Søren Jensen from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and Stoyan Tanev from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, investigate possible negative outcomes entrepreneurs can experience when engaging with an incubator or accelerator. Based on a literature review and interviews with entrepreneurs from Denmark, Canada, and Lithuania, the authors developed a set of recommendations that entrepreneurs should keep in mind when considering whether to join a business incubator or accelerator.

Second, Ron Beckett and John Dalrymple from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, adopt a system design perspective to examine what tools are available to facilitate the design of enterprise-specific business models. Drawing on the information systems literature, the authors identify a toolkit facilitating the design of activity system architecture to draw out the underlying complexity of a business model.

Next, Behrooz Khademi from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Australia, introduces a conceptual tool – the Ecosystem Knowledge (EK) Explorer – to help actors in a business ecosystem systematically discover external knowledge. In this article, the author uses bibliometric analysis, social network analysis, and text mining to conceptualize 39 constructs and measurable variables of the EK Explorer. The tool is designed to turn codified technical knowledge within knowledge-based ecosystems into practical insights for collaboration, competition, technology management, investment, or policymaking purposes.

In the last article, Leigh Soutter, Kenzie Ferguson, and Michael Neubert from the International School of Management (ISM) in Paris, France, explore impact factors that affect the adoption of digital payment systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors compare findings from the literature with their results from three case studies of mobile money adoption in Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria that include semi-structured interviews with subject-matter experts, archival data in the form of industry and regulatory reports, and observational field notes. The study is intended to help FinTech innovators, academics, and policymakers to understand how technology and framework conditions impact payment business models in Africa.

Note also that we have recently issued a call for papers for an upcoming special issue on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Nigeria to be published in early 2020. Featuring Guest Editor Okechukwu Lawrence Emeagwali from Girne American University in Cyprus and Associate Guest Editor Abayomi Baiyere from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, this special issue will be developed in collaboration with the Nigeria Innovation Summit, which will be held from August 20–21, 2019.

For other future issues, we are accepting general submissions of articles on technology entrepreneurship, innovation management, and other topics relevant to launching and growing technology companies and solving practical problems in emerging domains. Please contact us with potential article topics and submissions, and proposals for future special issues.

Chris McPhee
Editor-in-Chief

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Keywords: accelerators, adoption, Africa, architecture, business ecosystems, business models, design, digital payments, entrepreneurship, incubators, Innovation management, ISPIM, knowledge management