Network-based innovation: the case for mobile gaming and digital music Filipe Castro Soeiro Department of Management and Economics, Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, Portugal Mariana Santos Department of Management and Economics, Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal, and José Alves Faculty of Administration and Leadership, University of Saint Joseph, Macau, China Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to identify, analyze and discuss a potential new business opportunity that arises from the intersection of the digital music and game industries across borders throughout network-based innovation approach. Design/methodology/approach – The research draws on review of industry and academic literature, two online surveys and interviews, overall encompassed by a interpretative exploratory research methodology strategy. Findings – The study supports the interest and potential for developing new products that combine digital music and casual digital games and that draw on frms from more than one region, while potentially involving a wide set of social network key stakeholders. Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory study in which fndings should be challenged by confrmatory studies, including new product design and development of modeling techniques and network-based innovation approaches. This research contributes for the generation of new insights over technological and social driving forces, as well as emerging trends that shed light on the global competitiveness and on convergence of mobile gaming and digital music industries at regional innovation systems view. It also discusses spillover mechanisms based on new knowledge creation, knowledge diffusion and knowledge appropriation throughout the key stakeholders. The customer-centric innovation and network value autocorrelation hypothesis was validated, and both technology convergence and social factors are enhancement factors for innovation. Limitations and Dr Filipe Castro Soeiro thanks NMusic, the Portuguese innovative startup launched in 2010, that competes globally in the Digital Music industry, Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish industry-changing Entertainment Media and Mobile Gaming company, founded in 2003 and creator of the globally successful Angry Birds franchise and Startup Lisboa, the leading Portuguese startup business incubator launched in 2011, which is being a major provider business incubator for the entrepreneurial innovative ecosystem in Lisbon and an European case study for their collaboration in this piece of applied research in the felds of innovation, management and strategy. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0955-534X.htm Network- based innovation 155 Received 19 July 2015 Revised 15 August 2015 Accepted 22 August 2015 European Business Review Vol. 28 No. 2, 2016 pp. 155-175 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0955-534X DOI 10.1108/EBR-07-2015-0072