Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The past years have seen a rising number of initiatives to foster water-related innovations around the world. Many of such initiatives take the incubation approach to support individuals or entities with potential for developing marketable water innovations. Despite the growing research on incubation, the innovation processes of incubatees - which are generally intertwined with the incubation process itself - have arguably received the least attention of researchers. Using the process perspective to innovation, this paper sheds light on the issue of how incubated innovators manage their innovation processes and the extent to which these processes are influenced by the incubator support. Empirical evidence was collected from 12 water innovators supported by VIA Water, a Dutch programme on water innovation in Africa. The study finds that innovation activities of incubated water innovators during the period preceding the incubation process are in essence informal, hardly planned and with little focus. The incubator support enables innovators to innovate systematically, notably by maintaining linkages between the different phases of the innovation processes, and to build convincing innovation cases.
Source: Environmental Science & Policy
Authors: Silas Mvulirwenande, Uta Wehn
Institution: IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Language: English
Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,550
OpenAlex ID: W3050453300