Abstract: This chapter examines the role played by innovative opportunities in driving economic transformation through dependencies between actors. It explores the extent of experimentation and inertia when actors identify, act upon, and realize innovative opportunities. Innovative opportunities are used to capture dependencies between key processes in innovation, as well as understand the systemic effects present in complex innovation activities characterized by uncertainty. The dependencies are illustrated by case studies of the early stages of development of technology and business platforms in the telecom industry. Empirical observations demonstrate dependencies between different actors which result in ‘systemic’ effects. These take the form of dependencies across different types of opportunities (technological, entrepreneurial, and productive ones), as well as dependencies across different elements of these processes (value perception, resource mobilization, and value appropriation). Such interdependencies are the force helping to drive flexibility and stability in economic transformations.

Keywords: innovative opportunities, dependencies, systemic effects, uncertainty, telecommunications, technology, value perception, resource mobilization, value appropriation, economic transformation,