This book offers a novel perspective on starting-up new business ventures through examining the process by which they become part of the existing business environment. The book highlights the importance of inter-organizational business relationships. Asserting that new ventures need to interact and connect with customers and suppliers, alongside policy actors and universities,Starting up in Business Networksdemonstrates how beginning a new venture demands initiating and developing business relationships. Noting a lack of prior research into the process by which start-ups embed into an existing business network, this book presents examples from countries such as Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and China to analyse the emergence and evolution of start-up business networks.

Lise Aaboen is Associate Professor of Technology-Based Entrepreneurship at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. Her research interests include incubators, NTBFs, commercialization of technology-based ideas and early customer relationships. She has published in a range of journals such asTechnovation,Industrial Marketing Management, andJournal of Purchasing and Supply Management.

Antonella La Rocca is a Research Fellow at Akershus University Hospital and Visiting Research Fellow at BI Norwegian Business School, Norway. Her research interests are in innovation, entrepreneurship and B2B Marketing. She has published in journals such asIndustrial Marketing Management andIMP Journal, for which she is an editorial assistant.

Frida Lind is an Associate Professor in the Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research interests include innovation, start-ups and organizing in business networks. She has published in theJournal of Business Research andIndustrial Marketing Management.

Andrea Perna is a Researcher in the Department of Engineering Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, Universita Politecnica delle Marche, Italy. His research interests include new business formation, innovation and CRM processes in B2B marketing. He has published in theJournal of Business Research andIndustrial Marketing Management.

Tommy Shih is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Business Administration, Lund University, Sweden. His research involves the study of business networks, government policy, start-ups and innovation. He has previously published inThe IMP Journal, Industrial Marketing Management andJournal of Strategy and Management.

Introduction.-Section 1: Starting up business relationships.- Chapter 1 Initiation of business relationships in start-ups, (Lise Aaboen, Elsebeth Holmen& Ann-Charlott Pedersen).- Chapter 2 Third actors initiating business relationships for a medical device start-up: effect on network embedding and venture creation processes (Tamara Oukes& Ariane von Raesfeld on behalf of the PCDIAB consortium).-Section 2: Relationships Dynamics in New Business Development.- Chapter 3 Starting-up: Relating to a context in motion (Antonella La Rocca, Ivan Snehota& Debbie Harrison).- Chapter 4 When start-ups shift network notes on start-up journey (Antonella La Rocca, Christina Öberg& Thomas Hoholm).-Section 3: Start-ups and technological collaboration in industrial networks.- Chapter 5 R&D collaboration and start-ups (Jens Laage-Hellman, Maria Landqvist& Frida Lind).- Chapter 6 Starting up from Science The case of a university-organised commercialization project (Malena Ingemansson Havenvid).-Section 4: Academic spin-offs and the issue of commercializing science. Some empirical experiences.- Chapter 7 The impact of key business relationships on the commercialization of science: the case of Nautes (Enrico Baraldi, Andrea Perna, Fabio Fraticelli& Gian Luca Gregori).- Chapter 8 Start-ups as vessels carrying and developing science based technologies: starting and restarting JonDeTech (Enrico Baraldi, Marcus Lindahl& Andrea Perna).-Section 5: Start-ups and the role of policy.- Chapter 9 The challenging life of university start-ups. The different view of value creation in a policy setting compared to a business setting (Tommy Shih& Alexandra Waluszewski).- Chapter 10 The coordinating role of Chinese policy actors in developing new biotechnology start-up companies to promote industrial development (Åse Linné& Tommy Shih).