Inherent Simmelian foundations anchor the theoretical base of the Triple Helix model. The Triple Helix model polishes the theoretical lens of Georg Simmel, revealing the empirical basis of intermediating ties in entrepreneurship and innovation. This Viewpoint article takes the path-breaking weak and strong ties approach of Mark Granovetter a step beyond the search for existing jobs into the realm of entrepreneurship and innovation: the task of creating new jobs. Building on Granovetter’s counter-intuitive social ties model, the perspicacity of intermediate ties is that they constitute an often invisible category of collegial and friendship ties that may be induced or repressed in varying organizational formats. Such ties are key building blocks, supplying missing dimensions of talent and mediation in entrepreneurial start-ups, often making the difference between success and failure.
BarrieJZawdieGJoãoE (2019) Assessing the role of triple helix system intermediaries in nurturing an industrial biotechnology innovation network. Journal of Cleaner Production214: 209–223.
2.
BergerPLLuckmannT (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York, NY: Doubleday & Company.
3.
BessantJMösleinK (2011) Open collective innovation. Swindon: EPSRC.
4.
BounckenRBarwinskiR (2021) Shared digital identity and rich knowledge ties in global 3D printing-A drizzle in the clouds?Global Strategy Journal11: 81–108.
5.
BrassDJButterfieldKDSkaggsBC (1998) Relationships and unethical behavior: a social network perspective. Academy of Management Review23: 14–31.
6.
BurtRS (2004) Structural holes and good ideas. American journal of sociology110(2): 349–399.
7.
CaiYEtzkowitzH (2020) Theorizing the Triple Helix model: past, present, and future. Triple Helix7(2–3): 189–226.
8.
CaiY (2022) Towards a new model of EU-China innovation cooperation: Bridging missing links between international university collaboration and international industry collaboration. Technovation119: 102553. DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2022.102553.
9.
ChampenoisCEtzkowitzH (2018) From boundary line to boundary space: the creation of hybrid organizations as a Triple Helix micro-foundation. Technovation76–77: 28–39.
10.
DiMaggioPJPowellW (1983) The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review48: 147–160.
11.
EisenhowerDD (1961) Farewell Address. Washington, DC: White House office of Communications.
12.
EtzkowitzH (1983) Entrepreneurial scientists and entrepreneurial universities in American academic science. Minerva21: 198–233.
13.
EtzkowitzH (2002) MIT and the Rise of Entrepreneurial Science. London, UK: Routledge.
14.
EtzkowitzH (2008) The Triple Helix. New York, NY: University-Industry-Government Innovation in ActionRoutledge.
15.
EtzkowitzH (2013) StartX and the ‘Paradox of Success’: filling the gap in Stanford’s entrepreneurial culture. Social Science Information52(4): 605–627.
16.
EtzkowitzH (2022) Entrepreneurial university icon: Stanford and Silicon Valley as innovation and natural ecosystem. Industry and Higher Education36(4): 361–380.
17.
EtzkowitzHLeydesdorffL (2000) The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and “Mode 2” to a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations. Research Policy29(2): 109–123.
18.
FliasterASpiessJ (2008) Knowledge mobilization through social ties: the cost-benefit analysis. Schmalenbach Business Review60: 99–117.
19.
FreibergerPSwaineM (1984) Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer. New York, NY: NcGraw Hill.
20.
GebhardtCAlmeidaMEtzkowitzH (2022) Triple Helix twins: operationalizing the sustainability agenda in the Northern Black Forest National Park in Germany. Triple Helix9(2): 184–215.
21.
GodelierE (2007) Do you have a garage?” Discussion of some myths about entrepreneurship. In: Business History Conference. Business History Conference. Business and Economic History On-line: Papers Presented at the BHC Annual Meeting, Vol. 5, p. 1.
22.
GranovetterMS (1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology78(6): 1360–1380.
23.
GranovetterMS (2017) Society and Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
GrichnikDBrinckmannJSinghL, et al. (2014) Beyond environmental scarcity: human and social capital as driving forces of bootstrapping activities. Journal of Business Venturing29(2): 310–326.
25.
JackSLDoddSDAndersonAR (2004) Social structures and entrepreneurial networks. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation5(2): 107–120.
26.
LaursenKSalterA (2004) Searching high and low: what types of firms use universities as a source of innovation?Research policy33(8): 1201–1215.
27.
LautoGBauMCompagnoC (2013) Individual and institutional drivers of technology transfer in open innovation. Industry and Higher Education27(1): 27–39.
28.
LeydesdorffLLawton SmithH (2022) Triple, quadruple, and higher-order helices: historical phenomena and (neo-)evolutionary models. Triple Helix9(1): 6–31.
29.
PerezC (2003) Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
PerkmannMPhillipsN (2011) Leveraging institutional distance: Institutional arbitrage in university-industry relations. In: Proceedings of the New Institutionalism 7th Workshop. Lyon, France, 17–18 March 2011, pp. 17–18.
32.
RajkumarKSaint-JacquesGBojinovI, et al. (2022) A causal test of the strength of weak ties. Science377(6612): 1304–1310.
33.
RetzerS (2010) Inter-organisational Knowledge Transfer Among Research And Development Organisations: Implications For Information And Communication Technology Support, New Zealand. Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems. Wellington, New Zealand: School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington.
34.
RetzerSYoongPHooperV (2012) Inter-organisational knowledge transfer in social networks: a definition of intermediate ties. Information Systems Frontiers14(2): 343–361.
35.
SimmelG (1971). On Individuality and Social Forms. Translated, edited and introduced by Donald N. Levine. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
36.
ThorntonPHOcasioW (2008) Institutional logics. In: The Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 99–128.
37.
TodoYMatousPInoueH (2016) The strength of long ties and the weakness of strong ties: knowledge diffusion through supply chain networks. Research Policy45(9): 1890–1906.
38.
VillanuevaAMolas-GallartJEscriba EsteveJ (2006) Measuring Triple Helix linkages: A contribution from embeddedness theory. Paper presented at 6th Biennial International Conference on University, Industry and Government Linkages, Singapore, 16–18 May 2007.
39.
ZhouCEtzkowitzH (2021) Triple Helix twins: a framework for achieving innovation and UN sustainable development goals. Sustainability13(12): 6535.
40.
WolffKH (1950) The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.
