The “Middleground” as a catalyst for the dynamics of innovation in an ecosystem? The case of Eurasanté in Hauts-de-France

Recent works on Innovation Ecosystem theoretically identify Middleground in the form of places, spaces, projects, and events as intermediary platforms that orchestrate complex relationships. The Middleground as an intermediary platform, connects in a co-evolutionary perspective the actors of the Upperground (formal and core actors) and the actors of the Underground (informal and peripheral actors). In this paper, we examine the role of Middleground in orchestrating complex relationships in innovation ecosystem and analyze the impact of two components of Middleground - Projects and Events on the technological development of firms. We used an emblematic ecosystem - the Eurasanté ecosystem, specialized in Biotechnologies, Healthcare, and Nutrition in France. We employ documentary research, interviews, network, and econometric analyses (Zero-inflated Negative Binomial regression and Structural Equation Model). Our econometric results reveal that collaboration in projects and participation in events generally impact technological development. This study fills the gap in the literature, first by reinforcing the local dimension of the ecosystem and by providing empirical evidence of the intermediation role of the Middleground that enables complex interactions and coevolution between heterogeneous actors and enhances the innovation performance of firms.