Anatomy of an innovation ecosystem: how do circular economy and social impact actors interrelate? A case study on Catalonia

This work contributes by advancing innovation ecosystem (IE) mapping by proposing a novel Information System (IS) for policy-makers to identify synergies and barriers between different fields in a regional IE. Drawing on Information Systems Design Theory, a three-step methodology was tested on the Catalan ecosystem by analysing the description of more than 70,000 LinkedIn webpages to identify the relationships between Circular Economy (CE) and the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). Thematic similarities, potential synergies and existing barriers between CE and SSE-engaged actors were highlighted via structural topic modelling. Findings show how CE and SSE actors are still quite far away from each other, as the former are focused on technical issues, while the latter mainly on branding, communication and accounting activities. The convergence may be supported by ad-hoc policies to facilitate, on one side, actors focused on circular economy to better communicate their positive impacts, and, on the other side, social actors to avoid the risk of impact washing by linking more their activities to real actions. The tested IS artifact demonstrated to be highly scalable and generalizable and may support data-driven policies based on a more comprehensive picture of local IEs.