Innovation Ecosystem framework directed to Sustainable Development Goal #17 partnerships implementation

Partnerships are demanded to implement a more integrated approach to sustainable development problems. The complex character of sustainability requires the participation of many societal spheres to resolve them. Sustainable Development Goal #17 “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” recognizes multi‐stakeholder partnerships as important vehicles for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies, and financial resources to support the achievement of the SDGs in all countries. Innovation Ecosystems (IE) are dynamic purposive multi‐stakeholders' networks with complex relationships built on trust, co‐creation of value, and exchange of complementary technologies or competencies. Few studies investigated the IEs relating to sustainability and specially within the SDGs. This study provides a descriptive analysis of the relationship between IE and the SDGs, concerning the question about how the IE framework can orient the SDG #17 partnership implementation. The methodology is based on the literature review and analysis of documents from the United Nations, available at the UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform ‐ 2021. Four core drivers were identified and discussed: Geographical Governance, Collaboration, Knowledge Transmission, and Value co‐creation. Considering the IE lens, the SDGs can be addressed as the purpose engaging the Major Groups, which are the key contributors in terms of being part of the challenges and solutions. There is a need to prepare stakeholders to be ecosystem conscious and aware of the demanded innovations. Future research should include describing methods to measure IE performance considering the SDGs and empirical studies to analyze the ecosystem roles and relations of the Major Groups.