The Dynamics of Innovation Spaces and Innovation Teams

There is an international consensus about the importance of innovation for
survival and development. However, an exploration of the spaces intended to support
innovation and their value and efficiency is needed to evaluate and reach maximum
efficiency in supporting innovation. This thesis argues that the problem is highly
relative to global innovation challenges and thus it is essential to explore deeply. To
address this problem, the researcher considered it from a sociotechnical theory lens to
help develop a deeper, more enriching understanding of how well these innovation
spaces can support innovation processes and the teams themselves. The study takes a
qualitative enquiry approach by conducting two case studies in different national
cultures (Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom) with the purpose of exploring the
dynamics of space and innovation teams. Sixty-three interviews were conducted with
photographs that were collected, resulting in enriching data and analysis. The results
show a paradoxical dynamic between innovation, space and teams. In addition, the
results show that these places are developing as global establishments in order to make
accommodations for global talent working in high-tech start-ups. Most importantly, the
main contributions are exploring innovation spaces through socio-technical systems
theory (STST), using a multi-disciplinary approach exploring each node of the theory
and each stage of the innovation process, exploring the role of the pandemic in
contemporary innovation spaces and considering the intersectionality of cultural
dynamics within innovation spaces.