Leveraging Public Procurement Policy for the Sustainability of Digital Startups : Innovation Intermediaries for the Survival of Digital Startups = 디지털 스타트업의 지속 가능성을 위한 공공 조달 정책 활용: 디지털 스타트업의 생존을 위한 혁신 중개자

국문 초록 (Abstract)

추상적인
디지털 스타트업은 공공 부문 혁신, 디지털 혁신, 지속 가능한 발전에서 점점 더 중요한 역할을 하고 있습니다. 공공 조달은 정부가 혁신을 촉진하고 시장을 형성할 수 있는 강력한 수요 측 정책 수단입니다. 이러한 잠재적 상호 보완성에도 불구하고 조달 시스템은 종종 디지털 스타트업의 역량 및 개발 요구와 잘 맞지 않습니다. 복잡한 절차, 경직된 입찰 설계, 위험 회피적 조달 관행은 초기 단계의 기업에 불리하게 작용하여 참여 제한, 조기 퇴출, 혁신 역량의 활용 부족으로 이어지는 경우가 많습니다. 이 논문은 공공 혁신 중개자의 역할을 통해 공공 조달 정책이 디지털 스타트업의 장기적인 지속 가능성을 지원하기 위해 어떻게 구성될 수 있는지를 검토합니다.
이 연구는 체계적 문헌 검토(SLR)와 이론 기반 에이전트 기반 모델(ABM)을 결합한 혼합 방법 접근 방식을 채택합니다. SLR은 공공 조달, 혁신을 위한 조달, 디지털 기업가 정신, 지속 가능성 및 혁신 중재 전반에 걸친 단편적인 연구를 종합하여 주요 제도적 및 시장 기반 장벽을 식별하고 조달 메커니즘, 중개자 역할, 스타트업 역량 및 지속 가능성 결과를 연결하는 통합 개념적 프레임워크를 개발합니다.
이 프레임워크를 기반으로 ABM은 반복적인 조달 상호작용을 시뮬레이션하여 중개 전략, 제도적 역량, 스타트업 흡수 능력, 그리고 입찰 난이도가 스타트업의 생존 및 역량 궤적을 어떻게 형성하는지 조사합니다. 시뮬레이션 결과, 중개 효과는 전략과 역량에 크게 의존하는 것으로 나타났습니다. 광범위한 지원은 안정성을 향상시키지만 역량 업그레이드를 제한하는 반면, 집중적인 지원은 생존과 형평성을 희생시키면서 엘리트 개발을 가속화합니다. 목표 지원은 적절하게 자원을 확보하고 높은 흡수 능력과 일치할 때만 가장 유리한 결과를 도출합니다. 이 논문은 조달을 역동적인 혁신 생태계로 재개념화하여 이론, 방법론, 정책을 발전시킵니다.

키워드: 혁신의 공공 조달(PPI), 디지털 스타트업 지속 가능성, 공공 혁신 중개자(PII), 에이전트 기반 모델링(ABM), 흡수 능력, 역량 개발.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Digital startups play an increasingly important role in public-sector innovation, digital transformation, and sustainable development. Public procurement, in turn, represents a powerful demand-side policy instrument through which governments can stimulate innovation and shape markets. Despite this potential complementarity, procurement systems often remain poorly aligned with the capabilities and developmental needs of digital startups. Complex procedures, rigid tender designs, and risk-averse procurement practices frequently disadvantage early-stage firms, leading to limited participation, premature exit, and underutilization of innovative capacity. This dissertation examines how public procurement policy, particularly through the role of public innovation intermediaries, can be structured to support the long-term sustainability of digital startups.
This research combines a systematic review of the literature with a theory-informed agent-based modeling approach. The SLR synthesizes fragmented research across public procurement, procurement for innovation, digital entrepreneurship, sustainability, and innovation intermediation, identifying key institutional and market-based barriers and developing an integrated conceptual framework linking procurement mechanisms, intermediary roles, startup capabilities, and sustainability outcomes.
Building on this framework, the ABM simulates repeated procurement interactions to examine how intermediary strategies, institutional capacity, startup absorptive capacity, and tender difficulty shape startup survival and capability trajectories. The simulation results show that intermediary effectiveness is highly strategy- and capacity-dependent. Broad support enhances stability but limits capability upgrading, while concentrated support accelerates elite development at the cost of survival and equity. Targeted support yields the most favorable outcomes only when adequately resourced and matched with high absorptive capacity. The dissertation advances theory, methodology, and policy by reconceptualizing procurement as a dynamic innovation ecosystem.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Table of Contents
• Abstract I
• Table of Contents III
• List of Figures I
• List of Table II
• Chapter 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1. Background and Motivation 1
• 1.2. Problem Description 7
• 1.3. Research questions 10
• 1.4. Research Philosophy and Methodology 12
• 1.4.1. Research Design and Methods 13
• 1.5. Significance of the Study 16
• 1.6. Research Contribution 18
• 1.7. Research Outline 20
• Chapter 2. A Systematic Literature Review of Public Procurement Policy for Sustainability of Digital Startups 22
• 2.1 Introduction 22
• 2.1.1. Background 22
• 2.1.2. Motivation 25
• 2.1.3. Problem Description 27
• 2.1.4. Research Questions 30
• 2.1.3. Research Objectives 30
• 2.1.4. Significance of the Study 31
• 2.2. Literature review 32
• 2.2.1. Public Procurement as a Policy Instrument for Innovation 32
• 2.2.2. Supplier-Side and Sustainability Perspectives in Innovation-Oriented Procurement 33
• 2.2.3. Digitalization and Participation Barriers in Public Procurement 34
• 2.2.4 Digital Startup Capabilities and Sustainability 35
• 2.2.5. Synthesis and Implications 36
• 2.2.6. Theoretical Foundation 36
• 2.2.7. Comparison Table 38
• 2.3. Methodology 44
• 2.3.1. Selection Criteria 46
• 2.3.2. Descriptive analysis 52
• 2.4 Analysis of Results 56
• 2.4.1. Descriptive Analysis 57
• 2.4.2. Procurement Policies actively encouraging Digital Startups 60
• 2.4.3. Institutional and Market-Based Factors Influencing Digital Startup 66
• 2.4.4. Linking Procurement Mechanisms to Sustainability Outcomes. 79
• 2.4.5. Public Procurement Policy Framework Structures That Promote and Sustain Digital Startups. 80
• 2.4.6. Conclusion 86
• 2.4.7. Theoretical Contributions 88
• 2.4.8. Practical and Policy Implications 89
• 2.4.9. Recommendations for Policy and Practice 90
• 2.5. Conclusion 91
• 2.5.1. Summary 91
• 2.5.2. Contribution 93
• 2.5.3. Limitations of the Study 94
• 2.5.4. Future Research Directions 95
• 2.5.5. Conceptual and Methodological Bridge 96
• Chapter 3. How Public Innovation Intermediaries Influence the Survival of Digital Startups in Public Procurement: An Agent-Based Simulation Study 97
• 3.1. Introduction 97
• 3.1.1. Research Questions 99
• 3.2. Literature review 100
• 3.2.1. Theoretical Foundations and Contextual Gaps 100
• 3.2.2. Integration of Study Components to Address Gaps 110
• 3.2.3. Initialization and Parameterization 111
• 3.3. Methodology 112
• 3.3.1. Design and Approach 112
• 3.3.2. Rationale for Using ABM 112
• 3.3.3. Theoretical Model and Causal Logic 114
• 3.3.5 Agent Behavior Flow 120
• 3.3.6. ODD Protocol (Conceptual Model Description) 121
• 3.3.7. Hypothesis Development 128
• 3.4. Experimental design and results 131
• 3.4.1. Overview of Experimental Runs 131
• 3.4.2 Experiment 1: Baseline Ecosystem Configuration 137
• 3.4.3 Experiment 2: High-Pressure Capability Escalation Regime (Elite Formation Scenario) 144
• Theoretical implications 149
• 3.4.4. Experiment 3: Constrained Environment with Targeted Support 149
• 3.4.5 Experiment 4: Optimal Learning Ecosystem Configuration 156
• 3.4.6 Comparative Analysis Across Experiments 162
• 3.4.7 Summary of Results 181
• 3.5. Conclusion and Contribution 191
• Chapter 4: Conclusion 199
• 4.1. Summary Conclusion 199
• 4.2. Implication 199
• 4.2.1. Theoretical contribution 199
• 4.2.2. Practical Implication 200
• 4.2.3. Policy Implication 200
• 4.3. Research Contribution 201
• 4.4. Research Limitation 201
• References 202
• Appendices 222
• Appendix A: Scholarly Databases and Search queries 222
• Appendix B: Full ODD Protocol (Technical Specification) 222
• Appendix C: Reviewed Papers 226
• Appendix C: Tables 228
• Appendix D: Model Change Log 231
• Appendix D초록 (Abstract) 231
• 추상적인 231