The study aims to understand and explore situations of collaboration between various actors in connection with a university-driven innovation intermediary organisation, and how the intermediary organisation facilitates collaboration in the making. To this end, we employ a case of a university-driven long-lasting intermediary organisation within the agricultural and forestry sectors. We examine three collaborative situations, using practice-based research and process theories as theoretical perspectives. A narrative approach is adopted as the method of investigation. The findings are presented in a conceptual model where the structures of the intermediary organisation are translated into practices, against which individuals can develop their collaboration processes. It is concluded that collaboration in the making is formed in the interplay between structures, practices and processes in relations between people. This implies that the organising of collaboration should focus its attention not only on structures but also on the practices and processes formed between people. The study contributes to the understanding of the organising of university innovation intermediary organisations by untangling the relations between structures, practices and processes in situations of collaboration between people.

Despite its relative newness, entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) have attracted much attention from research and policy but they are recognized to be largely untheorized. It is claimed that one aspect which distinguishes the EE perspective from other perspectives related to business environments is its systemic approach; however, much of the systemic approach still needs to be investigated. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate how the systemic and complex approach of EEs can be theoretically strengthened. We do this by investigating what values complex adaptive system theory holds for advancing the EE perspective. We highlight four propositions which are of particular importance for strengthening the systemic approach of EE: spatial and component boundaries of the system; self-governance; the relational dimension between system components and the system; and the evolution of the system. We propose that boundaries should be seen as a natural part of the system, that a complex system is too complex to capture all components and all interactions, and that studying only individual activities will not enable us to fully understand the system’s behaviour.

Gastronomy program at Kristianstad University has since many years been working with innovative processes and have created a number of courses aimed at developing innovative generic skills among their students. One of such courses is “Creative concept and product development in the foodstuff”.  The course presents the students an opportunity to develop new and exciting food stuff products in team of learners. The course has now run for 4 years and students have expressed satisfaction with their innovative skill development and the usefulness of skills acquired in their future career.  While the course have received many positive evaluations, a systematic evaluation of its structure and implementation has not yet been performed. This project aimed at evaluating how different aspects of team work (e.g. diversity and experiences) relate to students' development of innovative skills within the course. The study’s theoretical base lays in the field of collaborative learning (e.g. Bruffee, 1993), team learning (Slavin, 1978) and well as acquisition of generic skills in the collaborative and team learning processes. The project utilized an Input-Process-Output (Ilgen, et al. 2005) model where exploration diversity, team process and self-perceived outcomes and relationship between those have been investigated by the means of qualitative and quantitative methods. Relying on the surveys and reflective diaries of the course participants the study showed how various diversity aspects of the teams related to their processes and self-assessed outcomes, as well as show how students reason about collaboration in diverse groups. Based on the findings the study puts forward suggestion of how to manage the team work in increasingly diverse classes in the institutions of higher education and which method both students and instructors could employ to rip the benefits of this diversity.