Addressing grand challenges necessitates disruptive technologies often requiring regulatory approval before commercialization. This creates an ‘industry-regulation conundrum:’ why would industry actors invest in risky technologies without a regulatory pathway? And why would risk-averse policy makers regulate such technologies when no industry has emerged yet? Based on an inductive, multi-country study of the nascent industry of cultivated meat during incubation, we theorize the role of mission-driven orchestrators as key non-market actors to support the international emergence of regulatory pathways. By focusing on: (i) non-market actors; (ii) regulation in incubation; (iii) co-creation; and (iv) transnational dynamics, we contribute to the literature on nascent industries, explaining the emergence of regulations for high-risk/high-impact technologies tackling grand challenges.
