Universities as Keystone Orchestrators during Innovation Ecosystem Nascence

In recent decades, a large body of literature has dealt with universities' contributions to regional development. Maintaining their traditional roles in research and teaching, universities have seemingly broadened the scope of interaction with their respective environments, for example by supporting the industry through diverse technology-transfer mechanisms. Nowadays, some universities display even greater regional involvement by governing the local interplay among industry, the public sector, and academia in joint innovation endeavors. While established conceptual models view universities as less proactive contributors, recent studies consider universities as the main orchestrators- the so-called keystones-of nascent regional innovation ecosystems. This novel framework encompasses universities' pursuits within regions more comprehensively, but also challenges the prevailing notion that innovation ecosystems form around keystone firms. In this paper, we review the extant literature to compare keystone universities and firms, and the outcomes of their respective orchestration activities. We find that keystone universities are described as more considerate of regional needs, less driven by their economic interests, and more committed to knowledge dissemination compared to their firm counterparts. The outlined differences imply good reasons why universities should be considered keystones of nascent innovation ecosystems from the perspective of universities, but especially from the perspective of regional policymakers.