While Switzerland excels at innovation, some established SMEs aged 5 to 20, especially in the industrial-technology sector, experience frequently growth stagnation. Existing support structures are targeted mainly toward startups, leaving small businesses in lack of resources, finance, or strategic direction for growth. This gap hinders their ability to grow, innovate, and remain competitive. An organised, targeted ecosystem approach needs to be developed to bridge the gap and enable SMEs to start a new phase of sustainable growth.

The study uses a design science method, integrating a literature review on ecosystem theory, stakeholder roles, and orchestration models, as well as ten expert interviews, and a comparative evaluation of current governance frameworks and ecosystem visualisation tools. Key factors from the interviews were compared to theoretical findings to design an orchestrator-centred innovation ecosystem blueprint.

The thesis identifies five critical characteristics for structuring ecosystems for established SMEs. The resulting orchestrator-centred design provides intermediaries with a realistic, transferable framework for closing the support gap for Swiss SMEs that are stagnating in their further development growth. By allowing these businesses to re-enter the market, the strategy boosts Switzerland's innovative capability, economic resilience, and competitiveness. It incorporates components from major ecosystem frameworks, transforming theory into visualization tools and develops analytical artefacts that can assist ecosystem design and execution. The outcome provides service providers with a process for fostering long-term SME growth and opens up possibilities for applicability in other industries such as MedTech or manufacturing.