Persistent yet adaptive: how university science parks reconfigure intermediary roles across SME development stages and contexts

Innovation intermediaries, particularly science parks, play crucial roles in supporting SMEs through open innovation. Yet existing research conceptualises intermediary roles as static categories, with limited understanding of how they evolve across SME development stages or how contextual factors shape configurations. This study examines how science parks dynamically reconfigure four intermediary roles – consulting, brokering, resource provision, and mediation – across SME development stages (Ideation, Integration and Development, Commercialisation, and Scale-up) and how contextual factors influence these configurations. Drawing on 26 semi-structured interviews with staff and SME clients from two university science parks in Thailand (May–October 2024), findings reveal a systematic pattern: science parks emphasise internally focused roles (consulting, resource provision) in early stages when SMEs require capability building, shifting towards externally-focused roles (brokering, mediation) in later stages when SMEs need ecosystem orchestration. Four contextual factors – industry characteristics, location, policy alignment, and innovation culture – systematically moderate this trajectory. The study makes two theoretical contributions. First, it reconceptualises persistence as a dynamic capability, demonstrating that effective intermediation involves continuous role reconfiguration rather than static service provision. Second, it reveals the context-dependent nature of intermediary role configurations, advancing understanding beyond universal prescriptions towards contingent frameworks recognising the situated nature of innovation intermediation.