Networked Creativity in London's Hubscape: Digital Entrepreneurs in Search of Value and Systemic Change

伦敦 Hubscape 的网络创造力：寻求价值和系统性变革的数字企业家

• 批准号: ES/N007301/1
• 负责人: Tuukka Toivonen
• 金额: $ 25.03万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FN007301%2F1
• 关键词: Networked; Creativity; London; Hubscape; Digital

The UK's digital economy is said to be undergoing an unprecedented boom (TechCity 2015). However, there is still a dearth of serious academic research that could inform policy and practice in digital as well as sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. There is a particular paucity of research on how early-stage entrepreneurs utilise supportive infrastructures such as innovation hubs (Gryszkiewicz & Friederici 2014) along their creative trajectories. As a result, our understanding of digital entrepreneurs in the UK remains rather limited and (mis)informed by scholarship that disproportionately emanates from North America. To address this void, the present study investigates frontline innovators and their trajectories within London's rapidly growing digital economy, complementing recent macro-level surveys by government-related agencies. It is guided by the assumption that promising digital business models-including the models that underpin TransferWise and Funding Circle (both of which are London-based startups)-typically develop within collaborative networks of digital entrepreneurs. The main research question posed is: How exactly do person-to-person interactions that unfold within such networks shape original business ideas that (in some cases) lead to success? This study proposes that digital business models emerge via a fluid process of 'networked creativity' whereby entrepreneurs engage in a series of creative interactions with relevant others. The immediate setting for the study is London's 'hubscape' (its interlinked innovation hubs, their various events and shared collaborative culture) where entrepreneurs interested in technology, profit-making, fairness, sustainability and transformative change all find supportive bases.This project transcends existing organisational and entrepreneurship research by examining three types of digital entrepreneurs (for-profit, social-ecological, and transformative) and by making two radical design choices: First, it tracks actual creative interactions (Hargadon 2002; Hargadon & Bechky 2006; Long Lingo & O'Mahony 2010) between early-stage entrepreneurs and their interlocutors. Second, it recasts the business model as a so-called boundary object (Star & Griesemer 1989; Carlile 2002)-a schema that diverse participants can 'work on' without fully agreeing about its details. It then brings these elements into a coherent research design that shows how the evolution of entrepreneurial business models can be traced with precision at each step (see Case for Support). The study draws inspiration from connective ethnography in developing a unique approach to 'following' both entrepreneurs and their emergent models at the micro-sociological level. Among the very first serious studies to directly examine collective creativity along individualised entrepreneurial trajectories, this inquiry will make a transformative contribution to academic research as well as policy and practice. It will challenge purely individualistic ('hero') models of entrepreneurial action and ideation (that are partly rooted in Joseph Schumpeter's classic work) by demonstrating how, as Sautet (2002) has previously suggested, the challenge of entrepreneurship in this era of high-tech and complexity is how to bring together knowledge that is distributed across different individuals so as to create value. It will craft a highly potent account of entrepreneurship that fully reflects our societies' transition to knowledge-intensive work, collaborative networks and increasingly collectively-driven creativity. As such, it hopes to spur a series of related studies by a range of scholars. Through a solid impact strategy based on continuous engagement with key stakeholders (primarily, innovation hub staff and founders) and the media, this study will shift mindsets, behaviours and institutional practices with the ultimate goal of boosting the creativity and success of digital and sustainability-oriented entrepreneurs.

英国的数字经济据说正在经历前所未有的繁荣（TechCity 2015）。然而，仍然缺乏严肃的学术研究，可以为数字以及可持续创业和创新的政策和实践提供信息。关于早期创业者如何利用创新中心等支持性基础设施（Gryszkiewicz & Friederici 2014）的研究尤其缺乏。因此，我们对英国数字企业家的了解仍然相当有限，并且（错误地）受到来自北美的奖学金的影响。为了解决这一空白，本研究调查了一线创新者及其在伦敦快速增长的数字经济中的轨迹，补充了政府相关机构最近的宏观层面调查。它的指导假设是，有前途的数字商业模式-包括支持TransferWise和Funding Circle（两者都是伦敦的初创公司）的模式-通常在数字企业家的协作网络中发展。提出的主要研究问题是：在这种网络中展开的人与人之间的互动究竟是如何塑造（在某些情况下）导致成功的原始商业想法的？本研究提出，数字商业模式通过“网络创造力”的流动过程出现，企业家与相关他人进行一系列创造性的互动。这项研究的直接背景是伦敦的“中心景观”（其相互关联的创新中心，他们的各种活动和共享的协作文化），对技术，盈利，公平，可持续性和变革感兴趣的企业家都找到了支持基础。该项目超越了现有的组织和创业研究，通过研究三种类型的数字企业家（营利性，社会生态和变革），并通过两个激进的设计选择：首先，它跟踪早期创业者和他们的对话者之间的实际创造性互动（Hargadon 2002; Hargadon & Bechky 2006; Long Lingo & O 'Mahony 2010）。其次，它将商业模式重新塑造为一个所谓的边界对象（星星& Griesemer 1989; Carlile 2002）--一个不同的参与者可以在不完全同意其细节的情况下“工作”的模式。然后，它将这些元素纳入一个连贯的研究设计，显示如何在每一步精确地跟踪创业商业模式的演变（见案例支持）。该研究从连接民族志中汲取灵感，开发了一种在微观社会学层面“关注”企业家及其新兴模型的独特方法。在第一批直接考察集体创造力沿着个性化创业轨迹的严肃研究中，这项调查将对学术研究以及政策和实践做出变革性的贡献。它将挑战纯粹的个人主义（“英雄”）模式的创业行动和想法（这是部分植根于约瑟夫熊彼特的经典作品），通过展示如何，如Sautet（2002）以前提出的，在这个高科技和复杂性的时代，创业的挑战是如何汇集知识，分布在不同的个人，以创造价值。它将对企业家精神进行强有力的描述，充分反映我们的社会向知识密集型工作、协作网络和日益集体驱动的创造力的过渡。因此，它希望激发一系列学者的一系列相关研究。通过与关键利益相关者（主要是创新中心的工作人员和创始人）和媒体持续接触的坚实影响战略，这项研究将改变思维方式，行为和机构实践，最终目标是提高数字和可持续发展企业家的创造力和成功。

项目成果

Creative jolts: How existential challenges shape the idea journeys of early-stage entrepreneurs

创意冲击：生存挑战如何塑造早期企业家的创意之旅

• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Toivonen, Tuukka

From innovative workspaces to the city as an incubator: Nine perspectives for understanding and enhancing the value of new urban innovation infrastructures

从创新工作空间到城市孵化器：理解和提升新型城市创新基础设施价值的九个视角

• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Toivonen, Tuukka

Collaborative Spaces at Work: Innovation, Creativity and Relations

工作中的协作空间：创新、创造力和关系

• 发表时间: 2020
• 作者: Toivonen T

Creative Jolts: Responses to Existentially Threatening Feedback by Early Stage Entrepreneurs

创意震动：早期企业家对存在威胁的反馈的反应

• DOI: 10.5465/ambpp.2019.244
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Academy of Management Proceedings
• 作者: Toivonen T

Creative resonance: How creators and evaluators connect during interactions

创意共鸣：创作者和评估者如何在互动中建立联系

• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Idoko, O