Intermediary Use in Sustainable Innovation Ecosystems: Comparing Patterns of Resource Access Among Sustainability And Technological Start-Ups

Abstract

This paper examines how start-ups mobilise intermediaries to access resources within sustainable and technological innovation ecosystems (SIEs and TIEs). Drawing on a relational chain approach and quantified narrations of 90 sustainability and technological start-ups located in the same geographical area, we identify seven distinct patterns of intermediary use and compare them across the two ecosystem types. We contribute to the innovation ecosystem literature by showing that intermediary engagement follows plural trajectories, departing from the linear pipeline often assumed in ecosystem research. We further identify two contrasting logics of intermediation: emancipation, where ventures rely intensively on intermediaries at early stages and later reduce their dependence, and accumulation, where ventures progressively layer multiple intermediaries over time. Comparing SIEs and TIEs, we uncover the hidden but crucial role of interpersonal intermediaries in IEs, providing a different set of resources to sustainability start-ups, while technological ventures rely more on universities and companies. These results enrich intermediary typologies by adding interpersonal actors and reveal that the same intermediary types enable different bundles of resources depending on the ecosystem context.