Ecosystem Practices for Regional Digitalization: Lessons from Three European Provinces

The aim of this research is to obtain better understanding of ecosystems that foster digital evolution at the regional scale. The research focuses on the actions achieved by territorial ecosystem with the different existing financial procedures and political strategies in place at different stages (European community, national, regional and local). These practices help the description of what is really undergone by local stakeholders individually and collectively to improve the digital maturity of their territory. The quadruple helix concept is used to formalize the set of stakeholders involved in the collective dynamics of digitalization. An empirical observation campaign in three European regions (Grand Est in France, Styria in Austria and Värmland in Sweden) helps to provide a description of the nature of digitalization ecosystems, their practices and internal collaborative dynamics. The composition of the ecosystem is described and underlines that there is no real specialization between the members of ecosystems and their beneficiaries. Thirty-six practices have been identified and analysed, taking into account local ambitions. Finally, the type of interrelations (formal/informal and pecuniary/non-pecuniary) have been established.