Co-creating innovation ecosystems in contexts of absolute uncertainty: The case of low-cost heart valves in India
Sreevas Sahasranamam, Vivek Soundararajan, Debabrata Chatterjee
kHUB post date: January 29, 2024
Originally published: January 16, 2024 (PDMA JPIM • Vol 41, Issue 1 • January 2024)
Read time: 70 minutes
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The development of innovations aimed at tackling grand challenges requires the support of an appropriate innovation ecosystem. However, there is a limited understanding of how such innovation ecosystems emerge in contexts of absolute uncertainty. We addressed this gap by examining the boundary work carried out by key actors in the creation of the biomedical innovation ecosystem in India that supported the development of a successful low-cost heart valve over the 1976–1995 period. We developed a process model demonstrating how the ecosystem leader co-created the innovation ecosystem that led to the development of a low-cost heart valve by engaging in three types of configuration boundary work: establishing ecosystem configuration, modeling ecosystem configuration, and expanding ecosystem configuration. Our study contributes to the literature on innovations for grand challenges, innovation ecosystems, and boundary work.
- In contexts of absolute uncertainty, wherein the available set of decision options and outcomes is open and often unforeseeable, the creation of an innovation ecosystem—the evolving set of actors, activities, artifacts, relationships, and institutions required for innovation—is complex.
- In such a context, ecosystem leaders need to appreciate the need for co-creation with other stakeholders and understand that the process will be dynamic and iterative.
- To cope with absolute uncertainty, ecosystem leaders need to employ different approaches in different stages of the co-creation journey. During the ideation stage, the focus of the co-creation effort needs to be on developing ideas with ample scope for course correction, as many aspects are likely to be unknown in the context of absolute uncertainty. During the experimentation phase, the ecosystem leader needs to create the space for bottom-up social practices to emerge that enable dialogue and experimentation. During the translation phase, the ecosystem leader needs to work across technical and commercial boundaries to engage in legitimizing activities through appropriate physical infrastructure, policies, systems, and processes.