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Facilitating start-ups in port-city innovation ecosystems: A case study of Montreal and Rotterdam

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  • Witte, Patrick
  • Slack, Brian
  • Keesman, Maarten
  • Jugie, Jeanne-Hélène
  • Wiegmans, Bart

Abstract

Facilitating start-ups located in the port-city interface is one of the current policy strategies of municipalities in many port-cities worldwide to encourage innovations in constantly evolving port areas. This could help the re-development of vacant ex-port land, while also offering new economic orientations for the city and the port. The aim of the paper is therefore to explore what conditions are needed to facilitate and encourage start-ups in innovation ecosystems in the port-city interface. The analysis is based on two in-depth case studies of the port-cities of Montreal (Canada) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands). The results indicate that government initiatives to actively facilitate start-ups in formerly industrialized port areas are quite successful. However, the functional linkages between start-ups and port activities remains rather limited, if not entirely absent, and the impact on the functioning of the innovation ecosystem at large is not substantial. Other factors such as capital, collaboration and proximity are valued more than the physical location of the start-up. In this, other actors in the ecosystem besides the municipality and the port authority also play a key role. Furthermore, start-ups often feel limited in their innovative capacity because of stringent regulations and institutional rigidness. Governments and port authorities could facilitate in this respect by working more demand-driven in terms of unburdening and creating more institutional support, instead of imposing top-down rules and regulations to try to govern the ecosystem, which in itself can be considered a contradiction in terms.

Suggested Citation

  • Witte, Patrick & Slack, Brian & Keesman, Maarten & Jugie, Jeanne-Hélène & Wiegmans, Bart, 2018. "Facilitating start-ups in port-city innovation ecosystems: A case study of Montreal and Rotterdam," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 224-234.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:71:y:2018:i:c:p:224-234
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.03.006
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    2. Wang, Kun & Jiang, Changmin & Ng, Adolf K.Y. & Zhu, Zhenran, 2020. "Air and rail connectivity patterns of major city clusters in China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 35-53.
    3. Ducruet, César & Panahi, Roozbeh & Ng, Adolf K.Y. & Jiang, Changmin & Afenyo, Mawuli, 2019. "Between geography and transport: A scientometric analysis of port studies in Journal of Transport Geography," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Jiaguo Liu & Jinxia Zhou & Fan Liu & Xiaohang Yue & Yudan Kong & Xiaoye Wang, 2019. "Interaction Analysis and Sustainable Development Strategy between Port and City: The Case of Liaoning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-25, September.
    5. Maurice Jansen & Carola Hein, 2023. "Port city symbiosis: introduction to the special issue," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(2), pages 211-229, June.
    6. Zhen Chen, 2021. "Research on the Innovation Imbalance Between Coastal and Inland Port Cities Along the Belt and Road: Based on the Three Helix Theory," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, February.
    7. Granstrand, Ove & Holgersson, Marcus, 2020. "Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 90.
    8. Eline Punt & Jochen Monstadt & Sybille Frank & Patrick Witte, 2023. "Beyond the dikes: an institutional perspective on governing flood resilience at the Port of Rotterdam," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(2), pages 230-248, June.
    9. Joanna Helman, 2020. "Analysis of the Local Innovation and Entrepreneurial System Structure Towards the ‘Wrocław Innovation Ecosystem’ Concept Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Yanzhang Gu & Longying Hu & Hongjin Zhang & Chenxuan Hou, 2021. "Innovation Ecosystem Research: Emerging Trends and Future Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-21, October.

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