Bahrain has adopted a number of government action plans and policies to support innovation, and a number of collaborative frameworks in support of wider community inclusion. The Quadruple Helix innovation model was introduced as a way to strengthen Bahrain’s innovation ecosystem, but much remains unknown about how this model can be effectively applied in practice.
This research adopts an ‘exploratory’ and ‘explanatory’ approach to investigate how the fourth helix – public/civil society – is perceived and integrated into existing trilateral innovative networks between academia, regulator and industry, as well as the implications of such integration. Further, this study investigates how gaps in relation to the insufficient capacity to incorporate the fourth helix, and the tensions that arise from their incorporation, are managed by innovation intermediaries.
In keeping with the exploratory nature of this study, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted. Semi-structured interviews with key participants and document analysis were selected as data collection tools to explore participants’ perceptions of their collaboration and diverse experiences. The ‘Clarkeian version’ of grounded theory was adopted as an analytical approach based on its three mapping strategies: ‘situational maps’; ‘social world/arenas maps’; and ‘positional maps’. Situational analysis was chosen to investigate the ‘patterns of collective commitment’ and what discourses are evoked in order to co-design and co-develop innovative financial solutions. Situation analysis further helped uncover the complexity of collaboration, to develop a deeper interpretation and analysis of the power relations involved, and help elucidate marginalised perspectives in relation to the inquiry, by revealing actors who had lost part of their capacity to perform and shape action.
The data analysis revealed three key theoretical constructs, which were then replicated in the integrative framework. The framework aggregated the findings representing first the gaps identified in relation to the insufficient capabilities of academia, regulator, and industry to involve public/civil society members in collaborative and trans-disciplinary innovation processes. Second, the extension of the trilateral interactions to incorporate other actors via the participation of public/civil society resulted in new opportunities as well as new tensions that transcended the innovation process. These involved tensions associated with conflicting interests, incongruent collaboration motives, divergent perceptions of collaborative value, and power dynamics and asymmetries. Interestingly, some of these tensions were paradoxical in nature, as they exposed conflicting but interdependent poles that reproduced themselves, and thus persisted over time. Finally, intermediary roles were investigated, and the analysis evolved into exploring who the intermediaries were, what roles they played, what challenges they faced, and how these challenges were managed. Although the findings emphasised the important role that innovation intermediaries played in a Quadruple Helix configuration, in relation to facilitating innovation processes they also revealed that intermediaries may create miscommunication, impede matchmaking between the different Quadruple Helix actors, and increase power imbalances among them.
This thesis adds to the growing body of literature on the Quadruple Helix model in two ways. First, it uncovers the gaps and tensions that underpin interactions in the helices and in correspondence to the collaborative and co-creational activities in the FinTech ecosystem by showing their interrelations. This study explores the nature of these gaps and tensions, the reasons why they arise, and the strategies employed by the innovation intermediaries to address them. Secondly, this study extends previous research which found that tensions were both inherited and unavoidable in helix contexts by demonstrating that, beyond that, tensions are constitutive of the Quadruple Helix environment and shape its interactions. This thesis also adds to the body of knowledge on innovation intermediaries by suggesting that although intermediaries were proposed as a means to bridge gaps and tensions, however, in many instances, they merely exacerbated them.
Finally, in terms of practical implications, a number of recommendations are made on how to uncover the synergistic potential of tensions in order to facilitate collaboration and knowledge transfer among the Quadruple Helix’s key actors.