Whilst there is much talk about innovation eco-systems and their value to wealth creation there is not so much about the practical means to understand, harness and develop them.
However, a recent report from University of Cambridge, , does just this. Co-authored by Ivanka Visnjic Kastalli and Andy Neely at the Cambridge Service Alliance, the report assesses how companies can use eco-systems to expand their capacity and capabilities.
As Ivanka Kastalli, Assistant Professor at the ESADE Business School in Barcelona said when I spoke to her last week, "City governance is there to incentivise players to connect and to create better conditions for businesses to do their jobs and grow. The job of Mayoral teams is to promote coordination between these players - for example start-ups and large companies, by creating events and special programmes for screening and matching and connecting to aspiring entrepreneurs.
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"For Mayoral teams Quality of Life, Job creation, security, economy, these are the top issues they need to deal with and to do this more effectively they need to think more like Chief Executive Officers and to be more entrepreneurial."
Their report states, "What we do know (about eco-systems) is based on the specific cases of a couple of high flying ICT companies. While providing a source of inspiration, it is debatable to what extent it is possible to draw general conclusions from such specific and limited examples - especially conclusions that have value for more complex eco-systems in sectors such as energy, utilities, education, health care and public services."
They ask interesting questions, including - how are eco-systems formed? Are they created by a single player? Can they spontaneously emerge? What are they made up of, if they are not simply networks, supply chains or alliances, what are they?
Their analysis is focused on the ecosystems of 3 cities London, Chicago and Vienna. They say city governments, the hub of the ecosystem, have been adopting technologies around delivering these three overarching and interrelated goals of improving quality of life, creating jobs, and growing a strong economy. But, they say, that in analyzing how these are managed successfully there are useful lessons for organisations in respect of their own ecosystems.
Ivanka states,"The EU invests a lot in R&D, in education, but struggles to translate and exploit that into companies and create tangible wealth-creating outputs. But a lot of value can be created by providing a matching process from the architects of a city to create the conditions for universities to be exposed to large and small companies.
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"Successful Linkages are not only knowledge, but about trust. There is a lot of value in creating a company, for example, that brings HEIs and businesses together to create the intermediation which makes it possible to match talent with business needs. There is a need to promote the mechanism for this complementarity to arise.
"Providing talent into the businesses grows the trust so businesses see that students - undergraduates and post graduates - can deal with the challenges they are having to deal with everyday in their businesses. This is about moving beyond transactional dealings to relationships built on trust."
Their report defines an ecosystem as ' a constellation of diverse players, coalescing around a particular challenge, collaborating to deliver a complex solution'.
It acknowledges that the study of eco systems is still in its infancy. Many would struggle to describe the full complexity or the players within it, the report states.
They set about understanding how they operate. They chose to understand the eco-systems of three cities - London, Vienna and Chicago.
"In London there is a big PR team promoting London internationally as a destination for big companies," says Ivanka. "In Chicago they have recognized, through their Mayoral team, the importance of having a sufficiently diversified economy as more mature sectors, such as manufacturing, declined. Philanthropy and entrepreneurship have been highlighted through telling stories of successful and heroic individuals who have helped to revive the economy.
"In Vienna there has been strong intervention on the part of the city to help entrepreneurs through access to investment and support. In all three Cities the Mayoral teams were bringing a central and co-ordinating view. Taking away the Mayoral team would harm the economy and devalue the creation of new opportunities," she said.
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The Cambridge Service Alliance Report says that eco systems 'coalesce' around a complex challenge or a goal and encompass all the players that share or relate to that goal or challenge in one way or another....'
And that players in an eco system can contribute to the objective by adopting one or more of ten universal roles/ eco system JDs which in turn can be grouped into 4 types, depending on the contribution of the player.
These roles are -
i)talent and capital - colleges and private equity - bringing resources to bear on the problems
ii) scale and innovators - resolvers of problems - where scale and / or agility can help to solve problems
i ii) infrastructure - transport, connectors or organisms that provide the glue towards the resolution
iv) the hub or the promoters/ influencers directing the eco system towards a common goal or the complex objective that they came together to solve.
Research, they say, suggests that the starting point is the same - understanding how the current and potential future ecosystems works in the context of the organisation.
To map the eco system they recommend --
1) identify existing players
2) identify and frame the complex challenge
3) identify the solution
Analyse the eco system
4) identify the ecosystem roles
5) identify the relationships
6)identify the flows of money and power - consequences for where money and profits lie
Identify and implement innovation opportunities
7) identify the gaps and how you can help tackle them
8) Support the status quo if you agree with the hubs current challenge solving approach
9) disrupt the status quo if you think there is a better way to resolve the complex challenge
10) review and react - evaluate the likelihood of success and produce ongoing evaluation
They identify ecosystem players and their roles as follows-
1) Government and utilities
2) Businesses
3) Entrepreneurs
4) Academia
5) Intermediaries - these connect the four categories above through funding or networking environment
Within these five categories their research suggests there are 150 distinct types of player, which they have generalized to 40, and refined further to 10 ecosystem roles and four classifications - resource providers, sub-problem solvers, complex solution constructure and complex solution architects.
Resource providers and sub solution solvers - are 'the heart and soul of the ecosystem'. They refer to these as the pillars of the ecosystem and are often engaged in multiple ecosystems.
There are two resource providing pillars
i) Capital - financial support for projects
ii) Talent and knowledge - educate and generate knowledge that problem solvers need
Three roles involved in solving sub problem of main challenges -
iii) Scales - larger players resolving problems that require economies of scale and scope within one organization
iv) Niches - more agility and specialist knowledge is required
v) Innovators - typically start-ups and entrepreneurial SMEs
Solution Constructor Shapers
These are players who are concerned with the overall functioning of the ecosystem. They see three solution constructor shapers -
vi) Facilitators and Promoters as representatives of groups of players, e.g Chamber of Commerce or influencers of policy within the hub state as the report puts it. Promoters they say are similar to facilitators, but provide more of a counseling role or network brokerage or may even be a part of the government. For example in Vienna the Viennese Government has set up a company called Inits to provide consulting advice around business development, start ups, young enterprises with academic backgrounds.
vii) Infrastructure providers for ecosystem , e.g. Transport for London - regulated, non competitive but heavily integrated.
viii) Connectors and integrators - connecting different players for example resource providers to different players. These ensure the functioning of proposed solutions within the system.
Solution Architect:
Two Solution Architects - the hub - setting rules and policies governing problem-solving and influencers which set the boundaries or influence the policies.
ix) The Hub: Probably the most important role in the ecosystem bearing ultimate responsibility for the complex objectives. The hub is the main strategist and decides how the eco system will reach these objectives, what sub objectives will be chosen to accomplish the objectives and how they will be prioritized.
Main tools - regulation and policy. For example, Vienna uses tax payer money to finance innovation.
x) Influencers - players in this role not usually direct participants - they may have a role in another ecosystem that is interdependent with the one in question.
Chicago, for example, is part of the Cook County ecosystem and within the State of Illinois. Chicago coordinates with county government on some municipal matters, while State government influences policies set in state of Chicago.
The report suggests to me that Birmingham and the West Midlands have some way to go. Not only do we not appear to recognise the importance of our eco system, but we certainly have not adopted a conscious approach to mapping and harnessing it in order to diversify and further develop opportunities for wealth creation.
We still have much to do to drive trust and understanding in particular between sources of talent in education, capital in finance and sources wealth creation in our businesses.
Interesting therefore to see that Liverpool's knowledge quarter is looking to appoint a Director responsible for the development of Liverpool's Mayoral Development Zone.
They have created a position for someone to connect the area to 'key institutions, businesses and markets within and outside the 海角视频'. It is being funding through a collaboration of the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool City Council and the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust.
The position recognises the need for the Liverpool knowledge economy to be well connected if they are to drive further growth. Their partnership approach is being forged as part of a more articulated and understood eco-system.
* Beverley Nielsen is Director Employer Engagement at