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Across European cities local entrepreneurs are joining forces in new ways, forming collectives to stimulate business growth and innovation and to create a more attractive business environment. The value of such collectives is increasingly recognized by local governments and policy measures to stimulate these initiatives are being developed. Amsterdam hosts different collaborative initiatives, including 39 business improvement districts (BIDs).The Knowledge Mile is such a collective in which shopkeepers, other local SMEs, residents work together to collectively improve a large retail area. The city of Amsterdam is also a stakeholder. Government can fill an important role in enabling the creation of collective resource management in urban settings. However, if effective regulation is missing, citizens and governing bodies have to look for incentives to find new means of addressing governance. As such, the potential for collective management of urban commons may be greater than realized so far, as there is still a lack of knowledge in this area. In this paper, we aim to bridge this gap. By means of an embedded case study approach, we analyze the interaction between the stakeholders in their development of a green zone, the Knowledge Mile Park, in the Wibautstraat. In the coming years, roofs, facades and ground level will be changed through a collaboration of residents, entrepreneurs, researchers, civil servants and students in a metropolitan Living Lab. In this Living Lab, solutions for a healthy and social environment, climate resistance and biodiversity are jointly developed, tested and shown. In our study, we will analyze the role of the governing bodies in such initiatives, and make recommendations how collectives can become more mainstream with new kinds of institutions, without an undue burden on the community.

AbstractThe background of this study is the realization that our current understanding of innovation in SMEs is relatively poor, yet the encouragement of innovation in SMEs is at the heart of policy initiatives for stimulating economic development at the local, regional, national and European levels. The sample used for this analysis is drawn from a survey that questioned Dutch SMEs about their involvement in three Eastern Netherlands knowledge clusters that were part of a national economic priorities stimulation programme. SMEs that were located in the more rural sub‐region Zwolle, indicated that they were not able to profit enough from the programme. The paper explores if the innovation perception of the SMEs in this sub‐region is affected by its collaborative knowledge sources in terms of different types of partners, and if structure of the networks may explain the lack of involvement of these SMEs in the programme. Also, it aims to explore if the internal power relationships of an SME – represented in this study by the education level of the owner/ manager of the SME – influences these relationships. Powerful actors within and outside the organization, namely, may influence the knowledge absorption processes. Results support the strong focus of SMEs on customers and suppliers for new knowledge and the positive role of higher education on the innovation process. In this study, no significant proof is found for the interaction of higher educated entrepreneurs on the relation between knowledge sources and innovation perception. Preliminary insight into the positive and negative interaction effect of the education level of the entrepreneur on the relation between knowledge sources and innovation perception, however, may provide interesting new research directions.Resumen.Los antecedentes de este estudio son el reconocimiento de que nuestro conocimiento actual sobre la innovación en la PyME es escaso, y que a pesar de ello el fomento de la innovación en PyMEs es la base de iniciativas políticas para el estímulo del desarrollo económico de ámbito local, regional, nacional o europeo. La muestra utilizada en este análisis fue extraída de una encuesta a PyMEs de los Países Bajos acerca de su participación en tres conglomerados de conocimiento en los Países Bajos Orientales, que fueron parte de un programa de estímulo de las prioridades económicas nacionales. Las PyMEs localizadas en Zwolle, una subregión más rural, respondieron que no fueron capaces de beneficiarse suficientemente del programa. El artículo explora si la percepción de innovación de las PyMEs se ve afectada en esta subregión por sus fuentes de conocimiento colectivo en términos de tipos diferentes de socios, y si la estructura de las redes podría explicar la falta de participación de estas PyMEs en el programa. Además, intenta explorar si las dinámicas internas de poder en la PyME – representadas en este estudio por el nivel educativo del propietario/gerente– influyen en estas relaciones. A saber, varios actores dominantes dentro y fuera de la organización podrían influir en los procesos de absorción de conocimiento. Los resultados apoyan la idea de la fuerte dependencia de las PyMEs de sus clientes y proveedores para la obtención de nuevo conocimiento y del rol positivo de la educación superior en el proceso de innovación. En este estudio no se encontraron pruebas significativas de la interacción de emprendedores con educación superior en la relación existente entre las fuentes de conocimiento y la percepción de innovación. Sin embargo, las observaciones preliminares sobre el efecto de la interacción positiva y negativa del nivel educativo del emprendedor sobre la relación entre las fuentes de conocimiento y la percepción sobre la innovación podrían proporcionar nuevas lineas de investigación interesantes.

Universities have become more engaged or entrepreneurial, forging deeper relations with society beyond the economic sphere. To foster, structure, and institutionalize a broader spectrum of engagement, new types of intermediary organizations are created, going beyond the "standard" technology transfer offices, incubators, and science parks. This paper conceptualizes the role of such new-style intermediaries as facilitator, enabler, and co-shaper of university–society interaction, making a distinction between the roles of facilitation, configuration, and brokering. As a case study, the paper presents the Knowledge Mile in Amsterdam as a novel form of hyper-local engagement of a university with its urban surroundings that connects the challenges of companies and organisations in the street to a broad range of educational and research activities of the university, as well as to rebrand the street.