This paper pictures several risk-taking strategies of young high-tech firms in bringing energy inventions to market and ways urban policy (municipalities) may provide supporting facilities and help accelerate the energy transition. Derived from a longitudinal study of 100 firms in northwest Europe, two findings contribute to practice. Firstly, a share of almost 40 percent of university spin-off firms fails in the market introduction; if the market introduction is reached, 30 percent is relatively late. This development calls for attention to acceleration and risk-taking concerns. However, risk-taking firm strategies, like targeting radical inventions and new markets, tend to hamper early market introduction. Secondly, urban policy supports filling risk-related needs, particularly in large metropolitan networks. Cities (municipalities) may act as launching customers and provide sites and organizations for practical experimentation (e.g., in living labs) alongside steering on cross-faculty application platforms at the university that also connect with city functions. Cities’ initiatives, however, tend to be fragmented and miss priority. Partnering in Triple Helix networks with local universities and businesses may improve the situation, for example, by priority setting, better alignment, and integration. The urban policy also has a role in improving broader conditions, particularly the attraction of related R&D firms to the city/region and the attraction and retention of top-class researchers.

Science and Technology Parks (STPs) have fueled many debates on their effectiveness in policies to enhance innovation and regional economic growth. Some authors put emphasis on advantages of physical proximity between on-site firms and the university, while others pay increasingly attention to benefits from social capital between the stakeholders involved. According to theory, social capital works as a 'glue that binds' stakeholders who may originally have different interests, visions and different power positions. Adopting the last point of view, the aim of the paper is to increase understanding of the role of social capital in performance of STPs. The paper explores the relationship between growth and innovativeness of STPs and social capital-related power position, trust, and shared visions, using regression analysis. We make use of a survey-based sample of almost 50 STPs in various Asian countries. With regard to stakeholders and social capital, we distinguish between STPs' management, local university, local government and national government. We control for variation on country-level regarding innovativeness and planning culture and for variation in STPs' land-size. Our results show that higher STPs' growth (numbers of firms) tends to go along with some shortage in social capital, mainly on the local level concerning university and government. This situation may point to different opinions about growth, connected to physical limits regarding land and road system. In contrast, social capital on the local level but also national level, tends to be positively associated with degree of R&D orientation of STP firms.

Universities are cradles of innovation, with many start-ups involved in sustainable energy solutions. The extent in which such solutions reach the market and the kind of risk-related factors young firms encounter, are hardly known and understood. We aim to clarify market introduction and focus on the empirics of firms' risk-taking behavior related to strategic choices, competences, and interactions with (national) ecosystem conditions. We use a unique dataset of almost 110 university spin-off firms and a small selected sample from this set. A total of 60% of spin-offs are able to reach the market, most of them in the first five years of spin-offs' lives. Wind energy provides the best chances, as compared to such things as solar photovoltaics (PV) and advanced biomass. In-depth results suggest the high probability of quick market introduction in 'Innovation Leader' countries, like Sweden and Denmark, if combined with employing rich collaborative networks. A second set of favorable influences includes a practical mindset and accessing substantial investment capital. In contrast, strong risks tend to be connected to activity in fundamental inventions, highly specialized technology, weakly developed (sub) markets, poorly built networks, and short refunding time of substantial investment. This study provides a unique contribution to understanding the market introduction of sustainable energy solutions and risk-taking in this effort by young high-tech firms, among others, connected to differences between countries.

Many university spin-off firms today are involved in sustainable energy technology. However, to what extent and how spin-offs reach market introduction of their inventions, is not well-understood. Spin-offs may differ in many ways, like entrepreneurial orientation and competences, and opportunities in their ecosystem. To contribute to a better understanding, this paper explores differences in market-introduction (time)and underlying factors. It draws on a carefully selected sample of almost 40 university spin-offs in Europe and it applies rough-set analysis to explore relationships. The results suggest a high probability of positive development if spin-offs grow up in a 'Innovation Leader' country (like Sweden and Denmark) and employ multiple networks. A second set of favourable factors include a practical mind-set in the founding team through education merely at MSc level and accessing of substantial investment capital. In contrast, hampering factors include being involved in solar energy technology as a 'follower', while employing one-sided/poor collaboration networks. Overall, the results suggest substantial differentiation among spin-offs, and concomitant practical (policy) implications.

Urban living labs is a practical methodology in improving sustainability in cities by facilitating collaborative learning and innovation in a real-life environment, thereby mainly responding to the needs of users (citizens). The paper aims to filter a list of key learnings on urban living labs through the lens of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). One of the motivations is that key learnings on urban living labs are mainly derived from means-goal effectiveness (MGE) thinking while the urban setting calls for a broader perspective due to complexity and tension from the multi-actor, multifunctional, and multi-scalar character of cities. The filtering reveals almost 40 learnings as 'overlap' and 'exclusive for MGE'. Importantly, five learnings are identified as specific for RRI and potentially enriching living lab methodology: ethical and normative principles like health, safety, security, and equality between societal groups, and a wider distribution of benefits and risks of living lab outcomes, in particular, contradictory sustainability issues. The RRI filtering causes three practical implications: coping with uneven power distribution between stakeholders, limited feasibility of applying the comprehensive learning framework, and challenges of overarching platform structures enabling to better incorporate RRI concerns in living lab methodology. The findings as presented in an adapted list are new, as RRI values and concerns have seldom been applied to practical innovation and have never been explicitly applied to urban living labs' performance beyond the borders of effectiveness thinking.

This chapter discusses the empirical background which advanced the design of a new research method. It deals with an outline of this method which enables a dynamic micro-approach. The focus will be on insights that can be achieved by the method and on conceptual and methodological issues which need a strong attention when using the method. The chapter explains the proposed research within a broader perspective and identifies how it can contribute to an understanding of changes in development trajectories of regions and cities. It also discusses how microscopic insights into the dynamics of innovation can contribute to knowledge on the development paths of regions and cities. Many micro-oriented studies on innovation in the Netherlands have been based upon traditional theory, such as incubation, filtering-down and contact-systems theories. A longitudinal approach can equally be applied to the analysis of impacts of various cyclical developments on conditions that shape innovation.

Can grassroots-driven citizen sensing initiatives triggered by distrust contribute to risk problem-solving? The article inspects such a potential in the field of risks to public health represented by noise pollution. After a conceptual reflection, the Amsterdam Schiphol and the London Heathrow airports’ noise monitoring cases are compared. We inquire: How did lay people use citizen sensing to find solutions to the increase in noise? Which perceptions/actions influence and facilitate the problem-solving potential of citizen sensing? We found that the main citizens’ actions leading to solutions are an adequate contesting of information monopoly through the production of valid data, as well as the challenging of institutional strategies to improve risk-related problem-solving. Accordingly, the citizen sensing initiative may generate mutual understanding and stimulate the institutional recognition of the problem and urgency for solving it. The article provides a novel exploration of evidence on performance of actors showing the problem-solving potential of citizen sensing through a preliminary performance matrix.

This article provides an attempt to better understand the establishment of international knowledge relationships, including changes over time. Internationalization of young high-tech firms is strongly required given the drive for upscaling technology solutions and given the increased global spread of knowledge centers. To increase understanding, a framework of conditions of capability formation in internationalization is developed and measured using a sample of 105 university spin-off firms in Northwest Europe. In early years, 62% of these firms employed knowledge relationships abroad, often crossing continents. The main capabilities in this stage tend to be connected to education (PhD) and market training, innovation activity at practical level, and diversity in preceding domestic networks. Subsequent changes on the firm level show a somewhat stronger internationalization, 74%, associated with other capabilities compared to early years, mainly derived in previous internationalization, pre-start work experience and innovation activity at an advanced level. However, the results also point to a ‘problematic’ segment of firms, including shrinking patterns and persistent absence of internationalization. To summarize, we observe inertia as well as (highly) dynamic patterns of knowledge relationships abroad, with important implications for management and policy.

Living labs, as a methodology to enhance user-centric innovation, have large potentials in bringing inventions to the marketplace, but their performance can benefit more from evaluation. This article develops a novel framework for evaluation of living labs, including (1) a system approach providing an analytical view on living labs’ performance and results; (2) a focus on actor-complexity and boundary-spanning needs; (3) a set of questions concerning, e.g. absorption of user-feedback, satisfaction among actors, and openness and connecting with larger networks; (4) a list of key performance factors; and (5) a focus on participatory evaluation. The design of this evaluation framework rests on a comprehensive literature search and case studies representing different actor complexity, namely home-solutions in healthcare, reconstruction of large (multi)functional buildings, and multiple combinations of activity (university campuses). Key performance factors are found to be: an early involvement of adequately skilled users in multiple learning processes, including absorption of feedback, and a broader but balanced set of actors connecting with upscaling and acceptance in the market. Also, boundaries need to be better bridged by learning how to handle conflicts and deal with intermediation, while respecting shared goals and interests. Specifically, university living labs call for maintaining a solid relation with cities and their actors. Overall, an explicitly designed evaluation framework is a key part of the working plan of living labs. The results also indicate a need for stronger attention for boundary-spanning in evaluation, because living labs are increasingly applied in comprehensive multi-activity settings.