Innovation Ecosystem Dynamics and Design Innovation Capacity in Nigeria’s Creative Industries

Design innovation capacity within Nigeria's creative industries is shaped by a complex ecosystem of actors, institutions, infrastructure, and cultural dynamics that interact in ways inadequately captured by existing linear innovation models developed in mature economy contexts. This doctoral study theorises the dynamics of the innovation ecosystem shaping design innovation capacity across four creative industry subsectors, specifically graphic design, product design, fashion, and craft, in Lagos and Abuja. Drawing on innovation systems theory, design innovation scholarship, and complexity economics, the study applies a multi-method research design combining social network analysis of professional relationships among two hundred and sixty-two creative industry actors, longitudinal case studies of eight design innovation trajectories, and institutional analysis of sixteen organisations with roles in supporting or governing creative industry innovation. The resulting Design Innovation Ecosystem Model identifies six systemic dynamics that distinctively characterise Nigerian creative industry innovation: informal knowledge network primacy, diaspora innovation injection, institutional trust deficit, material scarcity creativity, regulatory vacuum navigation, and cultural capital commodification. Each dynamic is theoretically elaborated and empirically grounded. The model advances innovation systems theory by incorporating informal economy dynamics and cultural embeddedness as first-order theoretical variables rather than contextual footnotes. Policy implications address the design of supportive institutions, infrastructure investments, and regulatory frameworks capable of amplifying rather than disrupting the informal innovation dynamics identified. Keywords: innovation ecosystems, design innovation, creative industries, Nigeria, complex systems.