Current innovation literature stress the fact that companies seeking to boost their innovation capabilities should open their boundaries and collaborate with partners for bolder and faster value creation. While correct, and in fact frequently practice among several industries, many companies have failed in their attempt to innovate on ecosystem’s settings due mainly to lack of the appropriate management methodologies. Although co-development alliances have become a common practice in the market place, tools and strategies to manage them are quite behind on real execution. Furthermore, companies currently involved in such scenarios have overlook the new conditions of co-creation, failing to yield return over the cost of capital, and losing credibility on their ecosystems. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify practical managerial strategies, process and tools for orchestrating innovation ecosystems in general, and tailored them into real company current practices, in particular. In this thesis, a theoretical revision has been carried out in order to understand what innovation ecosystems are, why companies involved in innovation should care about them and what are the essential elements for orchestrating projects breed in that setting, being successful at it. Furthermore, a case study was developed with the purpose of connecting empirical findings to theoretical suggestions, and draw conclusions and recommendations. The company chosen for the analysis is one of the larger international players in their industry; having strong motivations to grow their innovation field, clear objectives to do it on partnership basis, and unquestionable position to claim the role of orchestrator. Moreover, management at this company believed that their innovation partnerships are not fulfilling expectations, and wanted to know how they can improve the way those projects are being managed, while keeping the center of the innovation ecosystem. The results show the process to create an orchestration strategy model, and a final proposal for the company under analysis. The case was developed taking into consideration information provided by key processes stakeholders over a series of interviews, and critical observation of the system during a six-month period. Scientific implications contribute in providing a framework for orchestrating innovation ecosystems on a technology-driven industry, while managerial implications contribute in providing the company with a robust model on how to position as a global hub for cross-innovation.

Companies are always trying to increase their sales and revenue, but nowadays due to technology advancement, competence and the fast moving economy this task becomes more difficult as time goes by. This is where innovation walks in, to find new ways to add value to customers, increasing profit and even find new potential markets. As part of implementing innovative practices, many companies have added corporate entrepreneurship to their structure, to look for new business models that reach diverse customers within the same industry. Getting in the mind of customers, trying to decipher unspoken needs and matching problems to new solutions is part of the insighting process that has to be done when attempting idea incubation. This research seeks to provide a methodology to make the insighting process for early idea validation, in a corporate environment, less manual and more mechanical. For this purpose the Stockholm division of Telia Company was used as study case and main source of data recollection, which brings the research results to a practical use and analysis.