Abstract:
Agri-food technology can provide innovative solutions to the traditional agri-food sector in the face of increased demands from the environment, consumers, and policymakers. New Zealand is a global leader in agri-food commodity production and exports, however, several challenges exist in the nascent agri-food technology
ecosystem such as the absence of key ecosystem actors, resource dependency and
leakage. Anchor organisations are recognised as essential actors for fostering
entrepreneurial ecosystem growth through knowledge sharing and spillovers and
attracting and deploying resources. This research aims to understand anchor
organisation’s role and interactions within New Zealand’s agri-food tech
entrepreneurial ecosystem, and how intermediation can enhance the value they
create for the ecosystem in which they are embedded. Specifically, how intermediary
organisations can facilitate and broker greater interactions between anchor
organisations and other ecosystem actors.
This qualitative study adopts an objective ontological view in a pragmatic paradigm.
Abductive reasoning directed data collection and analysis as semi-structured
interviews and visual methodology was collected as primary data. Ten anchor
organisations from New Zealand’s agri-food ecosystem were interviewed including
universities, crown research institutes, co-operatives and private/investor-owned
corporations.
Lower dependency on anchor organisations requires ecosystem actors to
collaboratively address the gaps and opportunities in New Zealand’s agri-food tech entrepreneurial ecosystem. This includes greater independent generation and
recycling of resources between actors. Furthermore, we would expect greater collaborations could increase entrepreneurial opportunities and promote the growth of the ecosystem.