Abstract

Innovation clusters contribute to regional development but face substantial organizational challenges when time-limited public support is reduced or withdrawn. This study examines how membership-based cluster organizations build resilience during such funding transitions. Drawing on organizational resilience theory and conceptualizing clusters as meta-organizations governed through negotiated authority, we conducted a qualitative comparative multiple-case study of nine innovation clusters in Norway and Europe. The empirical material comprises five live semi-structured interviews, four written responses to the same interview guide, and secondary documentary sources. An abductive within-case and cross-case analysis identified four strategic adaptation types: Revenue Diversifiers, Government-Exit Strategists, Survivalists, and Platform Shifters. Cross-case analysis showed that Revenue Diversifiers and Platform Shifters combined multiple revenue mechanisms and service infrastructures, whereas Survivalists remained primarily dependent on public grants and basic membership contributions. The findings show that resilience during predictable funding transitions is strengthened by anticipatory development of member-value propositions, service portfolios, partnerships, and digital infrastructure. The study contributes a typology of post-grant adaptation and explains how negotiated member legitimacy and coordinated service reconfiguration shape resilience in membership-based innovation intermediaries.

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