The current state of the water and sanitation sector has put water-related innovations high on the global policy agenda. However, the systemic complexity that typically surrounds such contexts call for actionable knowledge of how to enable and orchestrate innovative solutions by connecting different players via organized networks. In this study we explore and analyse the Water Innovation Accelerator, which is a virtual network-centred incubator model designed and implemented in Sweden. Framed by theory and research on open innovation, incubation models, and entrepreneurial networks we provide an analysis of the design, working and performance of the Water Innovation Accelerator. In sum, our findings provide empirical support for virtual accelerators as an effective means to aid the development and market uptake of water related innovative solutions. Its overall effectiveness builds on its ability to bring private and public actors with different assets and competencies together via its entrepreneurial network, where the incubator team play a critical role for identifying and encouraging network-embedded innovation opportunities. However, the perceived effectiveness of the acceleration process for SMEs seems to be contingent on whether they are positioned in later stages of the innovation process, as well as their proximity to the incubator network. In these respects, the study provides valuable insights that may aid researchers, incubation managers and policy makers in current and future efforts to accelerate water innovation.

Within accounting education, both conceptual and experiential learning have been important learning approaches. However, while experiential learning has been extensively studied in accounting education, the critical role of conceptual learning has received considerably less attention. In this article, we review theory and research to develop a framework involving the Throughput Model that relates to both conceptual and experiential learning. Based on our review and combination, we suggest implications for the design and implementation of accounting education. © The Author(s) 2016.

Prior evidence suggests that board independence may enhance financial performance, but this relationship has been tested almost exclusively for Anglo-American countries. To explore the boundary conditions of this prominent governance mechanism, we examine the impact of the formal and information institutions of 18 national business systems on the board independence-financial performance relationship. Our results show that while the direct effect of independence is weak, national-level institutions significantly moderate the independence-performance relationship. Our findings suggest that the efficacy of board structures is likely to be contingent on the specific national context, but the type of legal system is insignificant. © 2017 Elsevier Inc.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model that explains how learning processes at the team level connect with individual and organizational levels of learning in technology-based ventures, thereby influencing the evolution of innovation capabilities in the entrepreneurial process.

Design/methodology/approach: The 4I organizational learning framework is used as an overarching theoretical structure to acknowledge entrepreneurial learning as a dynamic process that operate on multiple levels in technology-based ventures. Embedded in this logic, research on team learning is integrated into this theorizing to examine how learning processes at the team level bridge and connect with learning processes operating at individual and organizational levels.

Findings: The conceptual model identifies different sets of team learning processes critical for the routinization and evolution of innovation capabilities in technology-based ventures. In this respect, the conceptual model advances the scholarly understanding of entrepreneurial learning as a dynamic process operating across multiple levels in technology-based ventures.

Originality/value: By conceptualizing how individual streams of experiences over time become institutionalized via interaction, conversation and dialogue, the paper provides novel insights into the critical role of team learning for bridging individual and organizational levels of learning in the entrepreneurial learning process. © 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited.