Crossing the chasm with Partner Ecosystems to grow your business differently.

A relatively quick post, partly as Hannover Messe 2024 is in full flow and tuning into events like this, you realize where we are all being pushed to the future,. Although GenAI gets a lot of central billing in the talks and demonstrations, the future “buzz words” that tell much of the immediate future are wrapped up in the solutions being offered.

Hannover is seemingly emphasizing the power and need of Ecosystems, platforms, marketplaces, end-to-end processes, and sustainability to set up so as to gain value and impact from all the data and AI coming towards us. These events are always forward-looking; you get the impression there are some big, even mega ecosystems, being built, but the reluctance and convincing are still lagging from those attending, transformation is a very tough call.

I am not sure we have crossed that “tipping point” needed from the essential missing piece—customers of all sizes and shapes—being convinced that opening up to far more collaboration and co-creation is in their interest. They need to cross the chasm and start with, perhaps, extending their existing thinking on “Partner Ecosystems” and opening them up to real collaboration and co-creation sharing.

Crossing the chasm into a new way of doing business through Ecosystem thinking and design is upon us all.

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Good Marketplace design does drive bottom-up business ecosystem participation.

Marketplace Design can drive bottom-up Ecosystem designs.

Do Marketplace designs drive the adoption of platforms and ecosystems? Marketplaces should certainly be fast followers as they will shape future decisions by their attraction. Once a platform and its strategic design and intent are in place, Marketplace attracting becomes a critical attraction as the place you buy, sell and develop the solutions needed to achieve the value derived from building and investing in platforms and collaborations built around Ecosystem thinking and design.

Does this more “bottom-up” approach of accelerating the attraction of having Marketplaces more open and ready for the “trading” business make sense, and is the better way to achieve an Ecosystem adoption?

Marketplace designs can indeed drive the adoption of platforms and ecosystems. A marketplace approach can facilitate a “bottom-up” adoption strategy, where individual participants are attracted to the ecosystem through the value they can gain as buyers, sellers, or users of services.

It is always vitally important that any contributor to marketplace solutions receives recognition for their work, efforts, or willingness to participate in enabling and strengthening the Marketplace. The success of any Marketplace is engagement- making it attractive to participate and contribute.

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Why Are We Navigating to the New: A Summary of the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs

The Importance of Hierarchy of Business Ecosystems

Why Are We Recommending Navigating into this World of Interconnected Ecosystems?

In the ever-changing and fast-paced world of business and innovation, the paradigm is shifting towards collaborative ecosystems. Traditional models are making way for a new approach emphasising openness, adaptability, and shared vision.

This transformative journey is encapsulated in the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs, a cascading framework comprising four interconnected layers: Innovation Ecosystems, Business Ecosystems, Dynamic Ecosystems, and the Ecosystems of Enterprises.

Introduction to the Hierarchy:

The Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs is a construct of collaborative ecosystems, navigating complexity with agility, openness, and shared vision. Each layer contributes to the orchestration of innovation, business synergy, dynamic resilience, and collaborative prosperity.

The interconnected dynamics and strategic integration across layers create a self-reinforcing cycle of success. As organizations embark on this transformative journey, they move beyond boundaries, adapting to change, fostering resilience, and achieving collective prosperity through collaborative power, providing the catalyst to a different, highly collaborative management paradigm.

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Moving Beyond Boundaries in the Ecosystem of Enterprises

SubTitle: “Prosperity Unleashed Through Collaborative Power”

The Ecosystem of Enterprises- the Apex in the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystems

The Ecosystem of Enterprises Layer- the pinnacle or apex

Ascend to the pinnacle within the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs where entities dynamically achieve prosperity through collaborative efforts across Enterprises—the Collaborative and Sustaining Prosperity point. The need here is to explore the mechanisms where organizations collaboratively drive value, share prosperity, and unlock opportunities that transcend individual capabilities. This is the final layer of the interconnected Ecosystem thinking and design.

I am introducing the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs in several posts within this framework. I am outlining the top layer here, the final layer- the Ecosystem of Enterprises. This drives the interconnected Ecosystems in all of what they do.

As I have previously mentioned, the design of this Hierarchy of Business Ecosystems is modular; each Ecosystem can stand alone and offer significant value, but it is part of a more extensive cohesive system where each layer contributes to the overall success of collaborative ecosystems.

The importance of this top tier- the Ecosystem of Enterprises

Leadership needs to drive the profound shift to highly collaborative and co-created Ecosystems, designed and thought through to achieve a collective vision, sets of objectives and ultimate success of (multiple) missions; it does that through this Ecosystem of Enterprises.

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Navigating the New: Introduction to the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystems

 Setting the Stage Sub-Title: “Harmony in Complexity”

Navigating the New: Introducing the Hierarchy of Ecosystem Needs

The Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs is a Collaborative Set of Four Layers of Interconnected Ecosystems that reflect a unique value proposition, suggesting navigating business complexity differently in the future.

Each of these layers can be built independently, offering substantial value in its own right, but when interconnected, they create a dynamic and resilient ecosystem that drives collective prosperity and sustaining excellence.

Each layer in the Hierarchy of Business Ecosystem Needs contributes to the harmonious orchestration of innovation, business synergy, dynamic resilience, and collaborative prosperity, paving the way for a new era of interconnected success.

We are searching for a different growth curve, and to achieve this, we need a radically different design of how we approach business in collaborative and co-creation ecosystems.

Here, I outline the initial case for this Business Ecosystem Hierarchy, offering the potential for the transformative power of collaborative ecosystems together.

In a series of posts, I will provide this initially connected narrative and then provide individual ecosystem layer posts covering innovation, business, dynamics and enterprise-building ecosystems. This has a clear message of being interconnected as each layer contributes to the whole, and I trust it provides an introductory but comprehensive understanding of the values of synergies, interdependencies and the exponential value created when these layers are interconnected.

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A journey in achieving a Dynamic Innovation Ecosystem

The value of Ecosystems cannot be understated. Be these “innovation ecosystems”, “business ecosystems” or “dynamic ecosystems.” They form a “hierarchy of ecosystem needs“, and that is where I will be going in the weeks ahead to explain this integrated and interconnected framing of ecosystems.

I have gotten relatively excited about this strand of thinking and ecosystem design as it has been a reasonably extensive period of research building this out to a validation point.

This is undoubtedly giving me a sense of purpose in exploring ecosystems extensively as it is the way we do need to go in extracting growth and value and give a more significant impact to all the complexity and challenges we are facing in today’s and our future world.

Let me recap for those recovering from their December and early January excesses.

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Seeking more Energy Transition Ecosystem Success Stories in 2024

There have been so many success stories, specifically in industry and the energy transition, that are so reliant on collaborations and co-creations, coming from essential ecosystem design and thinking. This is partly why I focus on the Energy Transition and Industrial Transformation for my innovation and ecosystem work.

Let us remind ourselves where those collaborations between different stakeholders deliver real change in radical, innovative solutions.

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Recognizing the Value of Innovation Ecosystems

I keep being asked what Innovation Ecosystems are, why they seem slower in adoption than expected in the business environment, and how you can overcome reluctance and possible resistance to the need to change.

So, I thought I would list what the role of innovation ecosystems can provide and why they are essential and offer suggestions on gaining greater identification and adoption.

What is the role of innovation ecosystems?

Innovation ecosystems drive innovation, economic growth, and societal impact. They serve as collaborative platforms where individuals, organizations, and institutions from diverse backgrounds unite to share knowledge, resources, and ideas to bring new ideas to market and address pressing challenges.

They are rapidly becoming the backbone of a thriving knowledge economy where collaboration, knowledge exchange, and entrepreneurship drive progress in collectively coming together to tackle complex and complicated challenges that individual entities alone cannot attempt or fully resolve.

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Ready to add GenAI into your innovation ecosystem?

Innovation needs reinventing. There are new ways to capture, extract and deliver value. Adopting ecosystem thinking combined with Generative AI will augment, automate and rapidly scale innovation.

For me, ecosystem innovation and generative AI have arrived at that pivotal point to significantly influence future innovation design. It is where we need to question workflows and processes, as openness has become increasingly central to our thinking and development-building process.

I do believe the principles of design thinking, agile development, ecosystem thinking and design, coupled with AI integration. offer a radically exciting innovation ecosystem approach.

You must consider the following elements to make an ecosystem innovation stand out.

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

Design thinking needs a human touch

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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