Category Archives: Network & Collaborating Effects

Design Thinking needs a Human Touch in a World of Technology and AI generative thinking

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Design Thinking is seen as the essential element that will combine with technology and AI in the future yet it is still the need for the human touch will still be essential. As we form more around ecosystem thinking and design, design thinking will be essential as the significant enabler to creative input.

There is a fascinating change by embracing Design Thinking principles differently in the future of innovation; organizations can foster a more profound culture of creativity, empathy, collaboration, and user-centricity, one we have often dreamed of in embracing design thinking but so often never achieving. This can lead to a radically different approach to developing innovative solutions, ones that need to consider the interplay between humans, technology, and generative AI.

It’s important to note, though, that while AI can provide valuable insights and automation in the design process, yet human creativity, critical thinking, and empathy remain essential.

The human touch is crucial for understanding complex emotions, cultural nuances, and ethical considerations. Critical thinking and empathy are essential within the design process that AI cannot fully capture. Exploring a number of these more human endeavours:

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Building out the four main components of Innovation Ecosystems

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The interplays and interfaces available from technology and AI applications available to us today can deliver completely different, more compelling innovations. I have been looking at the combination effect of humans, technology and AI in this new interplay on my paul4innovating.com site.

Within this research, I have been questioning how innovation has changed in the last ten years but, more importantly, how design thinking will adapt due to this technology and AI adoption as the avenue of future exploration.

Couple this with Ecosystem thinking and design, and we are moving towards a different, more integrated framework for innovation ecosystems. I provided the story for Innovation Ecosystems as needed to be explained in a previous post.

I see four main components within innovation ecosystems that must be expanded to give this framework meaning. Value creation, knowledge transfer, co-creation and competitive positioning.

Why these four components?

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The story for Innovation Ecosystems needs to be explained.

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I have been evolving my thinking within the concept of innovation ecosystems. The Integrated Framework for Innovation Ecosystems is a conceptual framework which emphasises the importance of recognizing the interconnectedness of value creation, knowledge transfer, co-creation and competitive positioning when combined with how the different strands interact for innovation within ecosystem thinking.

“Effective engagement within innovation ecosystems relies on recognizing the interconnectedness of value creation, knowledge transfer, co-creation, and competitive positioning while navigating the dynamic nature of these networks and measuring the multifaceted impact of innovation, all facilitated by an integrated framework that fosters collaboration and strategic decision-making.”

The emerging story of Integrated Framework for Innovation Ecosystems

I have been looking for a transformative concept now discussed here as the Integrated Framework for Innovation Ecosystems. This framework was not just a combination of ideas but an inspiration for practitioners and researchers seeking to unlock the potential of innovation in various corners of the globe, in organizations and in collaborations of all those wanting to engage in change, growth and sustainability.

Let me explain as the field of innovation ecosystems is highly dynamic and can vary significantly based on specific contexts, goals and different stakeholder involvement. Yet, some principles and components combine into powerful levels of interconnectedness:

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Recognizing the integration challenges of Business Innovation Ecosystems

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Integration for Ecosystems needs fresh thinking

Integration Challenges are tough when you are building out anything new in structure, systems and approach; these changes are demanding. It is no different when approaching the design of Ecosystems:

Ecosystems often involve integrating various technologies, systems, and platforms that must be designed to work together across multiple organizations. Ensuring seamless integration can be technically demanding as they must “speak” and exchange seamlessly to gain ongoing value and collective insight. I think it is helpful to consider the challenges this might have:

Integration challenges within ecosystems stem from the need to connect and coordinate different technologies, systems, and platforms that were not originally designed to work together. This complexity can lead to significant problems that hinder the seamless operation of the ecosystem. Let’s consider the challenges faced

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Technology is the critical enabler of Ecosystems.

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I have been spending time arguing for and validating why and how ecosystems in business and applying innovation in their design and thinking are the growing future mechanism for managing new growth, delivering impact and value within Business, and for the final consumer of the goods and services.

The potential within deploying ecosystem thinking can be derived from this highly collaborative approach in finding new ways to design and deliver different options to the existing offerings, offering a different value creation potential, providing for more compelling solutions and finding different ways of solving often complex problems with this co-creating approach.

Yet, I have realized that I have not given the time or attention to the technology issues associated with the move towards adopting an ecosystem approach. So, this post begins to address this.

I believe technology is a vital enabler for building out thriving ecosystems.

Does our technology understanding in organizations and its application to Ecosystem thinking and design fail to be clearly understood as needing a different, perhaps distinctive, structural approach or system?

Building out capability based on a single organization’s needs is a mistake. Understanding the differences in collaborating, co-creating and exchanging across organizations needs a very different design, security and approach mentality.

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Where are the success stories of Ecosystem thinking in the Energy Transition?

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A range of success stories showcase the value of ecosystem thinking in different industries relating to the energy transition. These are important to emphasise as they recognize the importance of combining a mix of stakeholders, technologies and organizations in interconnected and interdependent ways.

Ask how we can leverage and use Ecosystem thinking and design to promote innovation within the Energy Transition, as it is a powerful approach to radical change. By fostering collaborations and synergies, you can accelerate the development and adoption of innovative solutions for the energy transition.

Before we look at examples of ecosystem thinking and designs applied, we should consider a step-by-step guide to use and apply ecosystem thinking and design applicable to the energy transition.

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Find your Marketplaces; they can be the secret to your success.

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The theory goes you identify an Ecosystem of like-minded businesses that share a common need to solve a vexing problem, challenge or concept. Then, one party sets up a platform or gains the agreement of one already available, a neutral platform, to use it. Hence, it has all the technology, governance and structure to enable the group to communicate, exchange and build the (emerging) solution to work and then have the structure for it to (rapidly) scale.

The marketplace, the third part, often gets left to last when those achieving this new solution realize it needs a place for actual exchange, a thriving buyer/seller market.

Today, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of the Marketplace on offer. Marketplaces are increasingly being stretched, and the boundaries of their understanding keep extending. We have moved from simply listing, though, to transactional marketplaces ( travel, delivery), full-stack marketplaces (on-demand services- Uber), Market Maker (for homes, cars, jobs) into eCommerce(fashion, groceries) and Direct-to-Consumer( food, banking, wellness, lifestyle and eyewear)

By participating at an Ecosystem level, you are putting clear skin in the game; the platform provider tends to drive the roadmap, provide the governance and often play the lead role. There are so many “neutral” platform providers that much of the technology and engineering solutions can be resolved by using established platforms that many of the tensions, when ecosystems are formed, can fall away, allowing those working on a challenge to focus specifically on that and spend their time breaking down the IP and the returns, building the new solution.

Yet it is the role of the Marketplace that determines increasingly the success. Just reflect on some of the most prominent marketplaces. You have Amazon, Alibaba, Airbnb, Salesforce, Booking, eBay, LinkedIn, etc.

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Reducing today’s Volatility with Innovation Ecosystem Thinking and Design

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Innovation ecosystem thinking and design, our growing need

Much of business today is caught up in managing short-term change that is growing in complexity and challenges.

So the challenges in the past year have been highly focused on supply chain disruptions, plugging gaps in technology solutions that can provide a higher flexible, agile, and advanced planning and production environment and continue to keep moving towards securing a more sustainable future that reflects the need to become carbon neutral, net zero.

Yet disruption is increasing; we are in a volatile world of constant change.

Today’s systems are highly stretched and have been designed and built for a steady, repeating business, the era of yesterday. Flexibility, agility, and adaptability have yet to be addressed sufficiently in design or mind shifts for our present and future operations to provide a different, more agile operating environment. Consistently has been the norm, whereas today it reacts to constant change coming from multiple, often unpredictable situations.

We need to change how we operate.

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The benefits of participating in cross-sector innovation ecosystems

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The Benefits of Participating in Cross-Sector Innovation ecosystems

I can remember getting completely “hooked” on Business Ecosystems by a series from Deliottes and one specific report, introduced and coordinated by Eamonn Kelley, with many contributors including Kelly Machese, Anna Muoio, John Hagel, and Larry Keeley. It was called “Business ecosystems come of age” and maybe it did not change my life, but it gave it a clearer focus- innovation ecosystems. Take a read, it is well worth it, its value then, 2015 has only matured in my mind.

I was also looking at another great piece by Deloitte on tapping into the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem under a report called “How to Innovate the Silicon Valley Way” that came out in 2016. Another great motivation for focusing on innovation ecosystems.

One question asked in the Silicon Valley piece was “Why should enterprises give up transactional approaches in favor of dynamic, ecosystem-led innovation?

Today I would reverse that question “Why would any company still be locked into transactional approaches only functioning on its own resources?”

Today the struggle is to deal with increasing complexity, undoing the “knot” of difficult challenges and these cannot be undone or solved without collaborations outside one organization’s walls. We need to push this even further and totally accept that the hardest but best collaborations come from being involved in cross-industry or sector innovation systems.

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Cross-sector collaboration for Innovation Ecosystems- summary of summaries

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I wrote a four part series on cross-sector innovation ecosystems in April and I felt it was worth summarizing these into one, so I engaged my new office partner, ChatGPT to deliver this in a series of summaries. I can’t argue with these and decided to post these as a valuable initial referencing point on a growing area of organization need, in cross.-sector collaborations innovation ecosystem thinking.

The four-part series on cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations emphasizes the importance of collaboration in tackling complex challenges. The series discusses the skills, tools, and processes required for successful cross-sector collaborations, including interdisciplinary thinking, co-creation processes, project management, cultural competence, intellectual property management, and data analytics and visualization tools.

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