The role of intermediaries in smart city development - a tale in national innovation of one country two systems

This study contributes to the extant body of knowledge on smart cities and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development. There still exists a research gap on how ICT enables sustainability initiatives, national innovation, industrial diversification, and smart cities development. We conduct an empirical investigation on national innovation initiatives and public-private partnerships in Macau, a special administrative region characterizing a high degree of local governance and institutional autonomy separate from the institutions of mainland China. The research-in-progress paper presents a framework within which the public and private organizations negotiate policies that influence the innovation process. Our study reveals the development of national research labs and tech entrepreneurship incubators. Our ongoing analysis not only uncovers the intermediary role of industry associations that facilitate knowledge sharing and innovation capacity building, they perform some functions of governance, to socialize, mobilize and share resources where existing government capacities are constrained.