In today’s rapidly changing world, very few organizations or people can make it alone. At best, orchestrated ecosystems built around companies can be strong drivers for growth and competitiveness but building and leading them can be tricky. A group of Spinverse ecosystem leaders recently rolled up their sleeves with Ulla Koivukoski for an interesting book project. The newly published Ecosystem Handbook offers fresh insights for engaging different people and organizations, to work better together to solve complex problems and grand challenges. The book gives practical help both for ecosystem leaders and all people working in them.
Today, collaboration is a must in all fields, and new innovation ecosystems are being built. However, in practice the joint work does not always take off according to the plans. Cross-functional collaboration is challenging as such but collaboration between different organizations is multiplied is terms of complexity and difficulty. That is why four Finnish innovation leaders Sari Kola (first from right in the picture above), Ulla Koivukoski (first from left), Laura Koponen (second from right) and Markku Heino (second from left) decided to start a joint book project to share their experiences and in particular, to give practical help for people to build and lead ecosystems successfully and create real impact.
The book builds on both the rational and emotional paths in the evolution of ecosystems and unites insights from the “Caring Corporate Culture” research and collective experiences of the four co-authors with decades of hands-on work with different ecosystems involving public and private organizations and brilliant people. The purpose of the book is to crystallise the ecosystem journey in an engaging way for start-uppers, leaders of SMEs and corporates, public players and researchers who all navigate in today’s fast-moving and dynamic business environment.
Caring organizational culture as means to understand other organizations and people
The Ecosystem Handbook guides the reader to explore the rational but also the soft side of leading ecosystems. It offers a fresh view of the ecosystem journey by discussing both the rational decision-making processes and the emotional factors related to leading people from different cultures, professional backgrounds and organizations. It helps in understanding the different phases of the ecosystem and pinpoints the challenges, offering a novel view to approach them. The book gently reminds readers of the capabilities needed to manage self and others in diverse contexts, giving emphasis on the aspects of organizational empathy and emotions.
The ecosystem journey is divided in four stages: emerging, evolving, adapting and expanding. Real-life case examples related to each phase enlighten the key aspects of each phase and give interesting insights on challenges of electric transportation in India, the ecosystem of Tampere Kansi and Areena, the healthcare and social welfare crisis, and t
The eight canvases at the end of the book help capture the overall picture of leading ecosystems. Case studies, canvases and conceptual frameworks provided in the book offer practical tools to help in tackling the various rational and emotional challenges that may emerge over the course of the ecosystem journey.he opportunities of the 5G networks for smart cities.
A must-read to everyone involved in ecosystems
Mikko Kosonen, Chair of Aalto University Board, was sparring the co-authors during the writing process. He characterizes the book as follows: “This book is a must-read for anyone that has something to do with ecosystems. It can help organizations to work better together and solve more complex and wicked problems. Above all, it can help build new business and create value for the ecosystem, the partner organizations and individuals, as well as the broader society.”
Laura Koponen, managing director at Spinverse sums up: "It was fantastic to be part of creating this book. Ecosystems build growth in a new exponential way and Spinverse has been orchestrating them for more than a decade now. It is great to help our customers at every step of their ecosystem journey and we are looking forward to supporting them even more."
Related news and case studies from Spinverse:
Leading innovation ecosystems - leading complexity
Build key enablers for Digital Smart City
When digitalisation meets health, Spinverse helps to close the gap
More information about the Ecosystem Handbook:
Get your own copy of Ecosystem Handbook here.
Co-authors: