Meet the Ecosystem of Ecosystems Model
On driving innovation in the Next Economy
Nature is the perfect mentor. It shows us how ecosystems can be explored, designed, leveraged and applied to support regenerative design. Models of partnership and collaboration (such as that between bees and flowers) are frequently seen in nature. These models show us that there is much we can learn from the ecosystemic operational power underpinning nature. We can even mimic these models in our own innovation processes; from operations, procurement, staffing, strategy, portfolio and beyond—many areas of business can benefit from ecosystemic thinking.
So, let’s explore how to make the move to an Ecosystem of Ecosystem (EoE) model and deliver sustainable practices for the Next Economy.
The Next Economy: From Anthropocene to Symbiocene
A general sense of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) is rising, causing us to reconsider any remaining “certainties.” The Anthropocene — the geologic period that commenced when human activity began significantly impacting Earth’s ecosystems — is running out of tether. Environmental and societal threats pose high risks to every species on Earth. We are approaching the limit of growth.
In this state of uncertainty, we’re seeing a Next Economy take shape; rapidly and unpredictably shifting the operating environment for businesses, and posing an immediate threat to legacy business models. One thing is clear: a change in approaches, mindset, behaviors, models, frameworks and processes is required if we’re to deliver life-affirming solutions for future generations.
This is a moment to challenge the status quo and deepen explorations of alternative futures. We must move away from the human-centric, zero-sum game of the Anthropocene into a period of reciprocity with nature: the Symbiocene. The Next Economy offers the invitation to explore new economic models that consider our planet’s boundaries, use a holistic methodology to include a comprehensive list of stakeholders (nature included) and design a regeneration legacy.
What might successful businesses of the Symbiocene look like?
- Organizations harness the power of the collective to strike an equilibrium between economy, civilization and biosphere.
- Organizations intentionally form and manage a network of ecosystems to maximize activities, resources, byproducts and outputs.
- Organizations develop ecosystem awareness to operate dynamically, holistically and to share resources within multiple ecosystems.
- Organizations have a central and integrated role in overcoming current environmental and social threats.
- Organizations are part of a larger ecosystem and cannot operate as isolated, detached actors.
The rise of Ecosystem of Ecosystems (EoE)
In nature, an ecosystem is a group of living beings whose activities are intertwined in some way. Comprising of a set of players, knowledge, processes, connections and resources, ecosystems contain parallel, synergistic and decentralized activities. Rarely existing in isolation, ecosystems are often nested within, and overlap with, other ecosystems.
Essentially, successful ecosystems are a unified web of mutual values that harness partnerships for strategic deployment of resources. In this way, ecosystems are an excellent muse for sparking ideation around regenerative collaboration models and approaches to innovation.
An EoE model implies that each element of a sub-ecosystem exists to serve its being and the whole. Each and every element can be designed to provide ecosystem value. Ecosystemic thinking expands perspectives to an integrated whole, allowing for a more comprehensive view of the solution space and moving beyond the old-profit model.
Nature offers a lens to hypothesize and map how novel ideas, resources, input and output, components, teams and organizations can become a source of “nutrition” to adjacent actors within a defined ecosystem. An EoE approach can be used to consider ecosystemic opportunities and consequences at three different levels of an organization: Micro, Meso and Macro.
- Micro: Idea Generation
The Micro stream explores how novel ideas can deliver further value beyond the core. Concerned with fresh solutions and offerings, the Micro draws on partnerships to design and implement products and services that deliver higher value to the users. Using the previous reference from nature as an example, how could a new offering be designed to emulate flowers providing pollen for bees and vice versa? - Meso: Dynamic Organizations
The Meso stream both looks inward at the organization and outward at the ecosystem. It’s time to break silos apart and inform team creation, resource allocation and general operation in an ecosystemic way, shared across organizations. Meso maps complexity and highlights how each element of an organization can contribute to the whole. For example, how might the internal management of resources and capabilities be deployed if emulating the meticulous, organized behavior of an ant colony? - Macro: Continuum Value Chains
The Macro stream is outward looking, plotting and highlighting the organization’s possible connections within the greater business ecosystem. Macro is central to exploring where an organization, as an integrated whole, can fit in and deliver value to other organizations, communities and the natural world. For instance, how might an organization mimic mycelium taking root in a forest, absorbing and sharing nutrition from, and with, its surroundings?
Embarking on an ecosystem innovation journey
It takes imagination to consider how we can design regenerative products and services, team dynamics and industrial alliances. Organizations can intentionally apply the EoE model of Micro, Meso and Macro innovation steams—without leaving causality to chance. As industry boundaries are collapsing in the age of disruption, broader ecosystems embrace capacious value propositions.
With an ecosystemic mindset, the challenge is aligning critical actors whose understanding of who-does-what may vary dramatically from others. Ecosystem governance is a sensitive topic as organizations embark on the journey and try to implement the model. Core to EoE success is the utilization of an ecosystem leader to manage relationships and operations.
The EoE checklist:
- Create a transparent, persuasive communication to onboard other actors
- Take a wide lens to form the ecosystem’s vision and lead joint efforts accordingly
- Show commitments to boost credibility, achieve consensus and amplify collaboration
- Bestow quality to deliver regenerative impact
The EoE model can deliver value in ways no individual organization could hope to deliver on its own. Nature does not work in silos. Rather, it is internally and externally interconnected.
Design quality and beautiful innovation regeneratively
When seeking regenerative approaches, nature acts as a mentor, a measure and a model. Nature must therefore be a voice, a metric and a beneficiary of whatever we do.
Design is an intentional act. The inherent mindset of the exemplified EoE model aims for regeneration, quality, truthfulness, elegancy, joyfulness, collaboration, equality and mutuality across all facets. By working in a more ecosystem-conscious way, we can further acknowledge the positive role organizations can play in creating value in the Next Economy.
Further reading
- Alan Moore, Do Build: How to Make and Lead a Business the World Needs
- Ron Adner, Winning the Right Game: How to Disrupt, Defend, and Deliver in a Changing World.
- Design Council, Systems-shifting Design: An Emerging Practice Explored
- Eds., Martin Reeves and Ulrich Pidun, Business Ecosystems
Mattia Vettorello — Senior Service Designer, frog
Mattia is a sustainability and service design lead at frog. With almost a decade of experience and a PhD in Innovation Management from Swinburne University of Technology, Mattia collaborates with organizations globally to provide a broad range of consultative services at the intersection of design, innovation and strategy. Mattia is passionate about empowering teams with new tools, mindsets and approaches to co-design solutions which provide regeneratively to the Next Economy.
Merging research and industry, Mattia has developed the Innovation System Roadmap tool which integrates and enables anticipatory thinking in complex behavioral strategies to support strategic decision-making at the early stage of innovation management.
