The innovation intermediary’s guide to the AI Factory - A study of AI Sweden as an intermediary in a system of innovation

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of intermediaries in innovation systems. By studying how AI Sweden accelerates the use and adoption of artificial intelligence on a national level, it focuses on how an intermediary adds value in a technological innovation system. From interviewing 10 organizations of the AI Sweden network, findings are analyzed through the theoretical lens of diffusion and technology transfer theory, technological innovation systems, and intermediary activities. Based on findings, two main contributions are made. First, we propose to introduce the AI Factory as a conceptual framework for better understanding the role of intermediaries as accelerators of technological innovation. In extension to this, findings also contribute a deeper theoretical understanding about the role of intermediaries in technological innovation systems by supporting prior indicative methods of how to analyze innovation intermediaries. Second, it presents five future areas of improvement: international collaborations, the opinion leader role, relative advantages and knowledge enrichment, standardized procedures, and finally the test environment, which opens a discussion for implications and opportunities for current and future innovation intermediaries.