Accelerating Innovation: Competitive Advantage through Ecosystem Engagement

by Phil Budden, Fiona Murray

Overview

A practical handbook for accelerating innovation, both internally and externally, through engagement with innovation ecosystems.

Leaders in large organizations face continuous pressure to innovate, and few possess all the internal resources needed to keep up with rapid advances in innovation, science, and technology. But looking beyond their own organizations, most face a bewildering landscape of external resources. In Accelerating Innovation, these leaders—whether from the private, public, or nonprofit sectors—will find a practical guide to this external landscape. Authors Phil Budden and Fiona Murray provide directions for navigating innovation ecosystems—those hotspots worldwide where researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors congregate.

While Silicon Valley and Greater Boston are popularly known for web-based digital technology and biotechnology, respectively, the logic of innovation ecosystems is not solely American—so this guide takes in new locations and varied sectors such as Singapore (smart cities), Perth (mining), Cairo and Dubai (fintech), London and Lagos (fintech and media), Copenhagen (quantum computing), Rio de Janeiro (energy), Halifax (oceans), and Tel Aviv (cybersecurity). Drawing practical advice from a synthesis of works on tech, innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management, and from a decade of their own research and teaching at the intersection of these topics, Budden and Murray distill insights and interconnections from all these different worlds into a useful and globally applicable set of frameworks and models. Their approach provides leaders at every organizational level with a clear and workable roadmap for making the most of the unique resources of innovation ecosystems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262049610
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	04/29/2025
Series:	Management on the Cutting Edge
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.31(w) x 9.31(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

Phil Budden is Senior Lecturer at MIT, where he teaches executives from public and private sectors and serves as diplomatic advisor for a range of courses and programs, including the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program.

Fiona Murray is Professor and Dean at MIT and has served as an advisor to the UK prime minister on matters of science and technology policy for over a decade. She is a cofounder of the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program and Vice Chair of the NATO Innovation Fund.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Accelerate your innovation with ecosystem engagement


1. Innovation, Ecosystems, and Their Stakeholders
2. What do you want from an innovation ecosystem?
3. Deciding who to engage in the ecosystem

4. How to engage an ecosystem
5. Leadership for ecosystem engagement

6. Political and cultural challenges
7. How to “do good” while also “doing well”?


Appendix: How to get started Acknowledgements
Glossary

Bibliography Endnotes

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Accelerating Innovation is an indispensable guide for leaders navigating complex ecosystems to drive innovation, adopting practical frameworks with global insights to transform challenges into opportunities.”
—Amina Sambo-Magaji, Ag Director, Digital Literacy and Capacity Building; National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

“Most big companies realize that there’s much more innovation happening outside of their headquarters than inside it, but few have a coherent strategy for connecting to that outside ecosystem. This book provides a much-needed blueprint.”
—Scott Kirsner, CEO, InnoLead; author of Innovation Economy

“An exceptional guide to innovation success. A masterclass delivering a powerful framework for engaging internal and external stakeholders, leveraging innovation ecosystems, and driving measurable impact—essential reading for leaders across all sectors.”
—Neil Freeman, Innovation Expert, 4-t2 Consulting, former REAP Champion, Rio Tinto

“I was introduced to the five-stakeholder model during my time at REAP MIT, this model stuck with me as a framework of reality check in any innovation initiative to simply create sustainability and alignment and accelerate results. This book offers a shift in the mindset that leads to a better solution design.”
—Amal Dokhan, Managing Partner, 500 Global

“Phil and Fiona’s research has been vital for shaping our thinking on connecting corporate innovation to place-based ecosystems. Here, they offer clear insights on how external collaboration can create shared success and sustainable growth for companies.”
—Vijay Kamineni, Co-Founder, Innovation Engine

“This book masterfully unlocks the strategic potential of innovation ecosystems, offering leaders a practical guide to transforming global, external collaborations into a competitive advantage.”
—Les Delaforce, Deputy Chair, First Nations X

“A brilliant achievement. Based on decades of hard-won experience, the authors explain everything you need to know about engaging with productive innovation ecosystems. A must read for anyone who wants to build a business anywhere.”
—Simon Johnson, co-author, Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity