Understanding and Supporting Inclusive Innovation Ecosystems

Thank you to Melissa Roberts Chapman with the Federation of American Scientists for her excellent presentation and discussion on innovation ecosystems. AMCC communities have long been at the forefront of understanding their regions as “ecosystems”, or as consortia of organizations and stakeholders who all have a role to play in supporting manufacturing.

Melissa provided a thorough description on what an innovation ecosystem is, along with the players and component parts that need to work together in order for an ecosystem to thrive. She also challenged participants to consider their region as a complex system, or a rather a system of systems, with individual systems in research, workforce, entrepreneurship and others creating the parts of the greater manufacturing/innovation ecosystem in a region. 

We all have a lot to learn from the great work Melissa and FAS are doing to advance the ecosystem framework. We understand the work to be complex, but that tackling that complexity through an inclusive stakeholder model is key to ensuring the best solutions and ecosystem “levers” are used to drive greater collective impact across the country.

Presentation slides can be downloaded here.