Looking to the old to understand the new - insights on how innovation ecosystems can leverage off innovation systems

Pegging similar research constructs against each other is the usual norm where different streams of thought aim to seek validation and claim space in scholarship. Nevertheless, with the rapid rate of innovation and interaction globally, developing a construct solely on its own merit sometimes can be futile though enlightening. This is the dilemma I was faced with whilst undertaking my doctoral study which was aimed at understanding various facets of Innovation Ecosystems. Leveraging off Christopher Freeman's supposition of learning from the old to inform the new helped my thought processes. Firstly, I looked to Innovation Systems research to assist in understanding functional activities that occur in Innovation Ecosystems. Secondly, I applied the same perspective when it comes to selecting cases that I analysed in the study. The overall aim of this reflective piece is to exemplify how one construct can always learn from another to morph from just being theoretical to being practical.