Article: Barriers of SME engagement in mission-oriented innovation Journal: International Journal of Value Chain Management (IJVCM) 2025 Vol.15 No.5 pp.1 - 23 Abstract: Urgency and political incentives towards grand challenges, such as anthropogenic climate change, increase the importance of multi-actor and cross-sectoral cooperation approaches. One such approach referred to as mission-oriented innovation (MOI) encompasses multi-actor and cross-sectoral cooperation towards tackling grand challenges. However, there is a significant research gap regarding the engagement of SMEs in MOI. The ability to innovate and adapt makes SME engagement pivotal. This study aims to examine barriers towards SME engagement in MOI. Barriers were uncovered through an inductive qualitative case study. By performing a thematic analysis, barriers regarding lack of communication, resource distribution, and differences between political domains were uncovered. Contributing toward the significant gap in current literature, this study increases the knowledge towards engaging SMEs in MOI. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Barriers of SME engagement in mission-oriented innovation

Authors: Julian Strömqvist; Per Hilletofth; Matti Muhos; Martti Saarela; Peetu Virkkala

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Gävle, SE-801-76, Gävle, Sweden ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Gävle, SE-801-76, Gävle, Sweden ' Microentrepreunership Centre of Excellence MicroENTRE, Kerttu Saalasti Institute, University of Oulu, Pajatie 5, Nivala, 85500, Finland ' Microentrepreunership Centre of Excellence MicroENTRE, Kerttu Saalasti Institute, University of Oulu, Pajatie 5, Nivala, 85500, Finland ' Microentrepreunership Centre of Excellence MicroENTRE, Kerttu Saalasti Institute, University of Oulu, Pajatie 5, Nivala, 85500, Finland

Abstract: Urgency and political incentives towards grand challenges, such as anthropogenic climate change, increase the importance of multi-actor and cross-sectoral cooperation approaches. One such approach referred to as mission-oriented innovation (MOI) encompasses multi-actor and cross-sectoral cooperation towards tackling grand challenges. However, there is a significant research gap regarding the engagement of SMEs in MOI. The ability to innovate and adapt makes SME engagement pivotal. This study aims to examine barriers towards SME engagement in MOI. Barriers were uncovered through an inductive qualitative case study. By performing a thematic analysis, barriers regarding lack of communication, resource distribution, and differences between political domains were uncovered. Contributing toward the significant gap in current literature, this study increases the knowledge towards engaging SMEs in MOI.

Keywords: grand challenges; mission-oriented innovation; MOI; public actors; small and medium size enterprises; SMEs; unawareness; resource distribution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVCM.2025.147750

International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2025 Vol.15 No.5, pp.1 - 23

Received: 20 Jan 2025
Accepted: 05 Jun 2025
Published online: 29 Jul 2025 *

Title: Barriers of SME engagement in mission-oriented innovation

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