While an abundance of research is present on established context, little is known about (platform based) innovation ecosystem development and evolution within nascent industries. The formation of new ecosystems entails strategic challenges for leaders because of the definition of interactions, governance structure, and platform market scope to put in place and manage. This research project aims to deep-dive into how does strategic leadership deal with (platform-based) innovation ecosystem emergence and evolution within emerging industries. These questions are addressed by thoroughly investigating the emergence and evolution of two intertwined platform ecosystems driven by the established Space and Services company SpaceI in the nascent “new space economy” industry. Three main phases of evolution are identified, within which the decisions of the different members of the ecosystems play a crucial role in shaping it. Based on these insights, implications for the role of strategic leadership in innovation ecosystem evolvement are developed.
