An innovation ecosystem is a multi-stakeholder environment, where different stakeholders interact to solve complex socio-technical challenges. We explored how stakeholders use digital tools, human resources, and their combination to gather information and make decisions in innovation ecosystems. To comprehensively understand stakeholders' motivations, information needs and practices, we conducted a three-part interview study across five stakeholder groups (N=13) using an interactive digital dashboard. We found that stakeholders were primarily motivated to participate in innovation ecosystems by the potential social impact of their contributions. We also found that stakeholders used digital tools to seek "high-level" information to scaffold initial decision-making efforts but ultimately relied on contextual information provided by human networks to enact final decisions. Therefore, people, not digital tools, appear to be the key source of information in these ecosystems. Guided by our findings, we explored how technology might nevertheless enhance stakeholders' decision-making efforts and enable robust and equitable innovation ecosystems.

翻译：创新生态系统是一个多利益相关方环境，不同参与者在此互动以解决复杂的社会技术挑战。我们探究了利益相关者如何利用数字工具、人力资源及其组合，在创新生态系统中收集信息并做出决策。为全面理解利益相关者的动机、信息需求与实践，我们采用交互式数字仪表板，对五个利益相关方群体（样本量=13）开展了三部分访谈研究。研究发现，利益相关者参与创新生态系统的主要动机是贡献可能产生的社会影响。同时，他们借助数字工具获取"高层次"信息以支撑初步决策，但最终仍需依赖人际网络提供的上下文信息来执行最终决策。因此，在这些生态系统中，人而非数字工具才是关键的信息来源。基于研究发现，我们进一步探讨了技术如何仍能增强利益相关者的决策能力，从而构建稳健且公平的创新生态系统。