How do new industries emerge? The aim of this paper is to provide an answer to this question by focusing on the knowledge dimension of this process. We first argue that there is a sectoral bias of research which has equalized new industry emergence with only a selection of new industries, especially the software and biotechnology industry. In this paper, we focus on the service robot industry. We analyze its institutional properties, its knowledge properties, and the role of collaborations. We find that the emergence of service robot industry is, contrary to biotechnology and software, triggered by established technical leaders, and less by new firms. Using Japanese patent data, we also show that the service robot industry, while being a new industry, possesses cumulative characteristics. As the emergence of this industry matches to the characteristics of Japan’s institutional and knowledge regime we essentially argue that the popular association of certain institutional paths with a lack of innovativeness is erroneous. We conclude that industry emergence in intrapreneurial regimes seems to be distinctive from entrepreneurial regimes.