Innovation Theatre in the Entrepreneurship Industry

This research area investigates the discrepancy between the rise of entrepreneurial activities and the stagnation in actual entrepreneurial outcomes, focusing on the 'innovation theatre' and burgeoning entrepreneurship industry that may not effectively contribute to economic and societal progress.

Over the past decade, we have witnessed an explosion of entrepreneurial activities, with incumbent organizations, institutions, and governments promoting innovation through hackathons, corporate accelerators, and innovation hubs. Despite this increase in entrepreneurial activity, there has been a surprising decline in tangible entrepreneurial outcomes, particularly in terms of the creation of innovative firms and broader economic impact. This paradox, often referred to as ‘Innovation Theatre,’ highlights activities that seem to foster entrepreneurship but fail to produce substantial results. Instead, these initiatives contribute to the development of an entrepreneurship industry—goods and services explicitly intended for opportunity discovery and development by current and prospective entrepreneurs—but do not necessarily contribute to entrepreneurship per se.

Our research critically examines the phenomena of innovation theatre and the entrepreneurship industry, aiming to better understand how entrepreneurial activities can be supported to produce both economic and societal value rather than merely contributing to the appearance of entrepreneurship. Our research projects in this area include:

Ethical dimensions in entrepreneurship
Cultural design in corporate venturing units
The entrepreneurship industry

Some of our most recent publications:

Brattström, A., & Faems, D. (2024). Innovation theater in corporate venturing units: Cultural design as a (de) legitimizing mechanism. Journal of Product Innovation Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12736

Brattström, A. (2024). Task Re-allocation in New Venture Teams: A Team Conflict Perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 48(1), 205-245. https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587231154505

Brattström, A. (2022). Cultural ideals in the entrepreneurship industry. Questioning the Entrepreneurial State-a Revised Perspective on States and Markets, 53, 133-155. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94273-1_8

Brattström, A., & Wennberg, K. (2022). The entrepreneurial story and its implications for research. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 46(6), 1443-1468. https://doi.org/10.1177/10422587211053802