It is one thing to use the term “ecosystems” as a metaphor. It is quite another to create a new visual language to help universities and their partners see them. That is what the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab has been working on over the last few years. In partnership with Fraunhofer IOA based in Stuttgart, Germany they’ve develop a set of visual frameworks that can be used and adapted in efforts related to innovation, entrepreneurship, technology transfer and a wide variety of economic development-related strategies.
1. The Visual Language of Ecosystems
Ed Morrison
Scott Hutcheson
University Economic
Development Association
October 2018
2. The Current State
of the Practice
Agenda
Designing What’s Next:
Networks: Collaboration: Strategy
Maps: Platforms: Roadmaps: The
Five Quadrants
Proof Points:
How This Works
in Practice
4. What’s wrong with this picture?
Source: World Economic Forum (2014). Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Around the Globe and Early-Stage Company
Growth Dynamics – the Entrepreneur’s Perspective
5. Another example: Nice logic
But is it actionable?
Erik Stam (2015) Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy: A Sympathetic Critique, European
Planning Studies, 23:9, 1759-1769, DOI:10.1080/09654313.2015.1061484
7. Brown, R., & Mason, C. (2017). Looking inside the spiky bits: a critical review and
conceptualisation of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Small Business Economics, 49(1), 11-30.
Here’s a different approach:
Moving toward interconnections
8. A stronger view of interconnections:
But is there a theory of change?
Source: Daniel, L., Medlin, C. J.,
O’Connor, A., Statsenko, L., Vnuk,
R., & Hancock, G. (2018).
Deconstructing the entrepreneurial
ecosystem concept. In
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (pp.
23-44). Springer, Cham.
9. Source: Pinto, H. (2018). Innovation Dynamics and Resilience: A Crucial Agenda
for the Future of Regional Studies and Policy. Available at https://
regions.regionalstudies.org/ezine/article/innovation-dynamics-and-resilience-a-
crucial-agenda-for-the-future-of-regional-studies-and-policy/
Another example:
How does this help us rebuild Puerto Rico?
11. We cannot design a complex adaptive
system, but we can guide them
12. But we can design the simple rules from
which a complex system emerges
Separation:
Create some space
Alignment:
Line up with those close by
Cohesion:
Steer toward the center
13. Visualization should help us find these
rules. Outcomes should…
Communicate complexity clearly
Embed a theory of change
Make drawings simple enough to be
actionable
18. Collaboration skills map on to an
S Curve of transformation
Time
Growth
5
jumping to the next s-curve
1
4
3
2
1. Exploring & Innovating
2. Building & Designing
3. Optimizing & Regulation
4. Guarding & Preserving
5. Transitioning from the
Current Cycle to the Next Cycle
45. We need to create a
vibrant ecosystem for
technology companies.
Designing an ecosystem in
Charleston, SC 2001
Ernest Andrade
Economic Developer
City of Charleston
50. Two Pathways Moving Forward
Pathway 1: “Sustainable Start-Ups”
Replicate the startup ecosystem of
Mayagüez to other campuses and regions
• Establish a core team
• Learn agile strategy discipline
• Launch a strategic action plan
Pathway 2: “Knowledge to Money”
Generation of wealth from UPR-Knowledge
by
• Link, leverage core research
strengths across campuses
• Align strengths to companies
• Learn agile strategy discipline
51. Pathway 1: Follow the Same Protocols to Replicate the Start-Up
Ecosystem in Other UPR Campuses
52. Replication and ScalingAcross Puerto Rico: Start-Up Ecosystems
Across the Campuses of the University of Puerto Rico
Campus 1
Campus 2
Campus 3
Campus 4