Stakeholder Engagement for Development of Innovation Ecosystem: An India Perspective

Abstract

Innovation has a strong linkage to the world of start-up. Solutions to unsolved problems form the basis for thinkers to innovate. Industry is constantly working through its research and development engaging intellectuals to constantly upgrade existing products/services or develop new lines of product/service categories. On the other hand, incubation centres nurture start-ups and provide necessary assistance to start-ups with innovative products/services to become viable business. Investors, on the other hand, are keen to engage with startups that have business propositions that can be scaled up and wider market acceptance. Innovation ecosystem thus has these three major stakeholders working closely with each other. It is imperative to extend partnership of all the three for meaningful outcome. For any start-up to flourish, the essential role is played by the institute or organizations which provide the right skills and the time for the entrepreneur to flourish; incubators or accelerators who could provide the right direction and support in finalizing and marketing the product; and investors who provide monetary resources for establishing the product into the market. An active interaction between all the parties to the ecosystem is essential in developing a strong ecosystem which supports the investor or an entrepreneur. This paper explores several studies in the field of start-up ecosystems for evaluating and examining their core strengths and weakness and building a good ecosystem along with the key stakeholders of the system.