In every project there comes a time when you get to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). In our case that moment was last week. We launched the book and the website, which is planned to be a platform of ecosystem discussion. It feels great!
We have been overwhelmed about the excited and supportive comments that we have received. And are truly grateful for those. At the same time, we are keen to move forward and focus on what’s coming. So here’s a sneak peek to what’s coming next.
The Book
The book looks just great. It is not a “typical business book” but rather colorful and friendly – inviting the reader to spend time with it. Special thanks to Juhamatti Murtomäki and Oona Sundell from N2 who spent countless hours refining the references and getting the colors just right. We hope that you’ll enjoy it too!
Having spent the past months with the layouts, and seeing the whole book ready, I am super-excited. I simply cannot wait to get it in my hands. Discussing with Ulla, Laura and Markku, they are as eager to see and feel it as I am. And discussing with many of you who participated in the event or have seen our emotional postings on Social Media, you are too. The expectations are high. We hope that we’ll meet them!
Latest estimate: October 12 2020 it is! If you have not ordered it yet, please do it here!
Case Studies
There are four case studies in the book: Indian electric transportation, Tampere Kansi and Arena (Uros Live), social and healthcare -case and smart city platform (LUXTURRIM5G).
The four cases were selected to illustrate the ecosystem journey starting from purpose, and then moving through the emerging, evolving, adapting and expanding phases – and generating impact every step of the way. The “ecosystem journey” framework serves as a good basis to analyze how the ecosystems change along the way.
As the world is changing fast, and further ecosystems are being built, it is of course of interest to us to analyze and describe both ongoing and starting ecosystems. As case studies are a great way to learn, we are planning to make this site a platform for sharing. More about that in the coming weeks!
Next cases in the pipeline: Stay tuned for case studies about Compensate and how their ecosystem is evolving. Also, a case about Innovation Home is in the pipeline. If you would like us to help describe your ecosystem, please get in touch with us soonest!
Tools
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” is a saying adopted from Abraham Maslow’s The Psychology of Science. As we live in a society where we have used to engineer our way in and out of many situations. Hence, the bad news, ecosystems are not nails. Hence it might not be a good idea to spend time to design a hammer.
In June, when the book was well underway, I did a quick calling round with a group of people to hear what in their opinion was the biggest challenge related to ecosystem. Their comments (illustrated below) linked to people, collaboration and leadership.
That’s why, we wrote the Ecosystem Handbook as a tool understanding self and others. So, while it comes with canvases that support the journey, the tools provided are not the key to success. People are.
From ideas to innovations and ecosystems
World is filled with ideas, but they become innovations only when someone starts defining, refining and incubating them. We firmly believe that in the area of innovations, the old saying “the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary” is very true.
The same applies for ecosystems as well: Building successful business and innovation ecosystems is not easy. But it is doable, when thinking big and small at the same time – and having key organizations and key people working on something tangible – the key project!
