This research investigates how broker processes between art and entrepreneurship work. In this, we distinguish three types of/phases in broker processes:

1. relating (everything related to the relational)

2. making (processes aimed at creating the actual innovation)

3. impacting/generating (the way the innovation is shared, made public, or deployed in a specific context.

The contribution to a sustainable economy is the context in which that action takes place.

An important disclaimer is in order here. Although SUSTAIN's primary focus is explicitly on the spheres of art and entrepreneurship, the brokers' practices studied show that other spheres (public, government, and other organizations) also (have) a role to play in innovations toward a sustainable economy. For a good understanding of brokerage practices, we also include those spheres in the study where necessary.

This leads to the following research questions:

1. What processes do brokers organize in establishing the relationship between different spheres of innovation and why? And what different types of relationships arise in them? E.g. Does it start with an assignment from one company and an artist is sought for that or the other way around?

2. What processes do brokers organize to make the co-creation of an innovation (artistic or otherwise) work well. And why? And what types of processes can we distinguish (e.g. facilitation, co-maker, mentoring)?

3. What processes do brokers organize in generating impact with the innovations, for example, workshops or exhibitions. And what types of processes can we distinguish? Innovations can be both tangible and non-tangible expressions and manifest in separate and/or collaborative art and/or entrepreneurial spheres, can be.

In this study, we will NOT include the question of what the realized impact is. We will, however, describe examples of this as an illustration of the description of broker processes.

Research approach

The focus on brokerage processes means that depending on the case or brokerage practice:

• We will study broker practices more broadly and therefore will question the brokers and stakeholders not only on one case but on several cases

• When relevant, we will survey more parties than just artists, brokers, and entrepreneurs

• We will pay attention to making the research participatory by involving the brokers in our research strategy

In SUSTAIN, we follow six parties for two years. Although the term only partly covers the load, we call these parties brokers:

Art Partner, Circus Andersom, V2, De Waag, In4Art en Future of Works.

The brokers involved operate in diverse innovation ecosystems, assume different roles within them, and each in their own way tries to add value to the ecosystem, the players, and the innovations needed.

SUSTAIN focuses on that added value of broker processes. What is the added value of brokers in that ecosystem? And which phases can be distinguished in the brokerage process and how are they fulfilled in the various practices and why: is the client's question or arch impact central, the style and vision of the broker, or that of the artist and entrepreneur?

On the one hand, we examine what activities and processes brokers engage in for what reason and with what intended effect (modeling existing brokers' processes) and, at the same time, explore where the development opportunities for those brokers' processes lie. We do this in three work packages:

1. We explicate/model broker processes and invite brokers to reflect on their own practice

2. We invite brokers to mirror their own broking processes with those of fellow brokers and explore where their own development potential lies in the light of that mirroring

3. We place chunk practices in a broader, forward-looking perspective. Together, we examine how brokering has to relate to developments in the innovation landscape around a new, sustainable economy. The central question here: where does the added value of brokerage lie in the long term?

Methodology

Brokerage is a fluid and dynamic process. It often takes shape in co-creation. Because different players are always involved, brokerage processes also differ. It is precisely this agility and adaptability that characterize the brokerage process. Every process of relating, creating, and generating is different.

One of the most common statements in the interviews is, "Yes but this case is not representative of what we do. Other broker processes go very differently. " Reason to make room in our research for that variation and not work towards a canvas that is formative but rather one that inspires. Not only do the activities within brokerage practices differ, but the differences between brokerage practices are also great. But this diversity of broker practices in the SUSTAIN project, therefore, lends itself ideally to a study that contributes to mapping the variation of broker practices. 

We also opt for co-creation in our research. Our starting point is participatory action research, where the collaboration between researchers and participants is central. Research with rather than about people. In participatory action research, researchers and researchers work together to bring about concrete changes or improvements in professional practice. The process of change, knowledge development, and personal and collective learning come together.

Specifically, this means that we - researchers and 'brokers' - collect, analyze and interpret data together and thus engage in a mutual learning process. In doing so, we also work together to implement and disseminate the research results.

There are several methods we use for this:

• Participatory observation: recording or writing down in detail what you have seen, heard, or experienced. Specifically, this means attending relevant meetings, meetings, and events whenever possible. Documenting the observations made can be done in writing, through images, or through sound recordings.

• Document analysis: studying relevant documents associated with the project under investigation, from published reports to internal memos or emails, from photos to recordings.

• (In-depth) interviews: questioning (and probing) in individual interviews.

• Group Discussions (Focus Group Discussions): asking questions to a (small) group, with discussions and exchanges of views usually yielding interesting insights.

• Photo-elicitation: this involves using photos or other visual media in an interview to trigger a discussion. Because this method not only appeals to cognition but also evokes emotions, memories, and ideas, several layers of meaning can be discovered.