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

据说英国的数字经济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。关于早期企业家如何利用创新中心等支持性基础设施（Gryszkiewicz & Friederici 2014）在其创新轨迹上的研究尤其缺乏。因此，我们对英国数字企业家的理解仍然相当有限，而且（错误地）受到来自北美的学术研究的影响。为了解决这一空白，本研究调查了伦敦快速增长的数字经济中的前沿创新者及其轨迹，补充了政府相关机构最近进行的宏观层面调查。它的指导假设是，有前途的数字商业模式——包括支撑TransferWise和Funding Circle的模式（两者都是伦敦的初创公司）——通常是在数字企业家的协作网络中发展起来的。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如何形成（在某些情况下）导致成功的原始商业想法？这项研究提出，数字商业模式是通过“网络化创造力”的流动过程出现的，在这个过程中，企业家与相关的其他人进行了一系列创造性的互动。这项研究的直接背景是伦敦的“hubscape”（其相互关联的创新中心、各种活动和共享的协作文化），在这里，对技术、盈利、公平、可持续性和变革感兴趣的企业家都能找到支持基础。该项目超越了现有的组织和创业研究，研究了三种类型的数字企业家（营利性、社会生态和变革性），并做出了两个激进的设计选择：首先，它追踪了早期企业家和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，它将商业模式重塑为一个所谓的边界对象（Star & 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中，该设计展示了如何在每个步骤中精确地追踪创业商业模式的演变（参见支持案例）。该研究从关联民族志中汲取灵感，开发了一种独特的方法，在微观社会学层面上“追随”企业家及其新兴模式。在首批直接考察集体创造力和个性化创业轨迹的严肃研究中，这项研究将对学术研究、政策和实践做出变革性贡献。它将挑战纯粹的个人主义（“英雄”）的创业行为和思想模式（部分植根于约瑟夫·熊彼特的经典著作），正如Sautet（2002）之前所建议的那样，在这个高科技和复杂的时代，创业的挑战是如何将分布在不同个人身上的知识聚集在一起，从而创造价值。这本书将对企业家精神进行强有力的描述，充分反映我们的社会正在向知识密集型工作、协作网络和日益由集体驱动的创造力过渡。因此，希望能带动一系列学者的相关研究。通过与关键利益相关者（主要是创新中心员工和创始人）和媒体的持续接触，制定可靠的影响战略，本研究将转变思维方式、行为和制度实践，最终目标是促进以数字和可持续发展为导向的企业家的创造力和成功。

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.