A bridge over troubled waters: bridging organisations and entrepreneurial opportunities in emerging sectors

Bridging institutions or organisations are regarded as having positive effects in the Sectoral Systems of Innovation (SSI) literature, particularly in compensating for weaknesses in these systems. Yet, we know little about the organisational practices that make their role effective, or the types of innovation paths that they may facilitate within a system. This paper shows how bridging organisations may promote neglected areas of creativity and potential disruptive innovation. These blocked opportunities tend to emerge at the boundaries of SSI: where old sectors overlap and new trajectories form. We draw on the social networks, entrepreneurship and disruptive innovation literature and analyse an intervention in the UK electronic games industry: the evaluation of business propositions exploiting new gaming platforms such as mobile telephones, DVD and film. Using an innovative co-productive research design, the study shows how the effectiveness of bridging organisation activity depends on key design choices and brokerage capabilities.