tci 2015 strengthening the evolutionary potential of clusters: shifting from responding to...
TRANSCRIPT
Strengthening the evolutionary potential of clusters: Shifting from responding to
anticipating what is next possible
Shawn Cunningham
Parallel Session 3.5: Tools and Methodologies for Effective Cluster Management and Cluster Performance Improvement
Strengthening the evolutionary potential of clusters: Shifting from responding to anticipating what is next possible
Dr. Shawn [email protected]
www.mesopartner.com
www.mesopartner.com 3
Institutions can use uncertainty to accelerate change & innovation in clusters
Meso institutions and cluster managers must shift from “responding to needs of industry” to “anticipating what is possible
from where we are” – strengthen evolutionary potential of the system from here
Mesopartner is developing “search and discovery” a portfolio of instruments to enable combination, exploration and institutional adjustment based on complexity thinking and cognitive science
www.mesopartner.com 4
Two examples of using complexity thinking in clusters
1. Non-consensus based decision making, for instance using Product Space and the Observatory for Economic Complexity tools or other instruments to identify emergent clusters, priorities for collaboration, search and discovery
2. Use narrative capturing of decisions made in cluster to identify weak signals and emerging trends. Tracking of decentralized decisions and perceptions of agents in a complex adaptive system
www.mesopartner.com 5
Three key shifts in attention
Strengthen resilience through actively promoting different approaches and explorations into possibilities
Shift from projects (linear planning, hierarchical decision making) to exploration (dynamic collaboration, decentralized decision making), from milestones to emergence
Go to the roots, to the coal face. In complex adaptive systems, agents make decentralized decisions. These decisions are important signals about change
www.mesopartner.com 6
Non-consensus based decision making: Using Product Space to find potential opportunitiesNetwork map shows the probability that a pair of products is
co-exported using international trade dataMIT and Harvard use different interfaces to the same
datasetMany products group naturally into highly connected
communities revealing how similar products areProducts in these dense communities probably depend on
similar technological capabilities or market conditionsThe Product Space & "open forest" really useful for focusing
cluster support
www.mesopartner.com 7
Product space: RSA 2013
Variable RCA CID Product Space MIT Prod Space
www.mesopartner.com 8
Open forest: Feasible products Machinery & transportCalculates how far it is to
alternative products and how complex these products are
Log scale, meaning 1 point = 100% change
The ideal location on this plane is the upper-left quadrant: goods that are close and have high strategic value
All FeasibleMachines feasible
www.mesopartner.com 9
Sensemaker – useful for detecting weak signals and emergent trends Sensemaker ™ developed by Cognitive Edge to capture
narratives and to allow storytellers to self interpret stories to add meaning, thus experts to do interpret stories
Used in diverse applications, reveals decentralized decisions made by people
“Signifiers” used to allow self interpretation and give meaning to their own stories – removes bias of experts
Allows for continuous scanning over different organizations and within organizations
Management manages “in the now” and tries to increase the evolutionary potential of the system “more stories like these” and “fewer stories like those”
www.mesopartner.com 10
www.mesopartner.com 11
Benefits of a complexity perspective for institutions scanning for new emergent clusters Entrepreneurs are like “sugar ants” that are good at finding viable
sweet spots The cost of figuring out what others know about technology,
knowledge and markets are high (ants leave chemical tracks) Ask: What can institutions do to enhance the ability of more
enterprises to experiment with new knowledge, ideas, market opportunities, combinations?
www.mesopartner.com 12
Turning well known innovation tools into continous scanning toolsMesopartner developing narrative detection and interpretation
tools to use on the Sensemaker ™ platform for:– Innovation systems promotion, Technology and Innovation
management, R & D management and organizational culture
– Regional and local economic development– Supporting organizational development of development
organizations “Systemic Insight” framework allows organisations and
clusters to explore innovation potential in a continuous process of search and discovery, learning and adjustment
www.mesopartner.com 13
Conclusion
Meso institutions and cluster managers must shift from “responding to needs of industry” to “anticipating what is possible from here” – strengthen evolutionary potential of the
system from where it is now
Instruments from complexity thinking can help strengthen innovation and creativity in
clusters
www.mesopartner.com 14
Thank you for your attention
Dr Shawn CunninghamMesopartner
www.mesopartner.com & www.systemic-insight.com