1. How ICT research supports Innovation Ecosystems and SMEs
Brussels, UEAPME workshop
The place of the SME in the ICT & eBusiness developments
How ICT research supports Innovation Ecosystems and SMEs
Francesco Nachira
European Commission DG Information Society and Media
Head of Sector “Technologies for Digital Ecosystems”

2. SMEs : a weakness or a potential for Europe ?
Knowledge-base economy: migrating towards digital economies mediated by ICT
More interrelations
More knowledge
More innovation
More specialised resources
Small companies have limited specialised resources and difficulties
To access to global value chains
To access to knowledge
To access to specific services (e.g. legal)
To adopt new technologies (ICT)
To adopt new business models
Threshold and Digital Divides (geogr..; SMEs vs. LEs)
But the only hope for a SMEs is to become BIG?
SMEs

3. SMEs in a Dynamic knowledge-based global economy
How to reach the critical mass of resources ?
How to cope with the increased complexity ?
Virtual cluster
Industrial District
Business Ecosystem
Growth Node

4. Peculiarities of EU economical structure
Cultural diversity (model of business, approaches, practices, …)
Dimensions of enterprises (SMEs vs. LE)
Historical presence of clusters with diffused tacit unstructured knowledge, skills and infrastructure
How to turn peculiarities and diversity into competitive advantages
How to foster innovation, creativity and autonomy of SMEs ?
Which policies, which paradigms ?
Which infrastructures ?

5. The Business Ecosystem
Create a climate conductive to investments, innovation and enterpreneurship: the conditions for
Attracting biz and entr. direct investments
Attracting enterprises
Attracting skilled and qualified workforce
How to create a
favourable environment
for business and people:
a socio-economic eco-
system ?
Service & technical
Infrastructure
Governance regulations & industrial policy
Human capital, knowledge and practices
Business
& financial conditions

6. Which Paradigms for Innovation Ecosystems ?
To create favourable environment Engineers: “problem solving” approach: isolate problem, identify variables, make a plan …
Economy as machine
Complexity
Ecosystemic approach:
economy as machine -> economy as ecosystems (garden)
Processes: Interpretation - Partecipation - Collaboration - Harmonis. of interests
Plurality and richness of: economic actors, subjects, ideas
and interaction, aggregation

7. The Innovation Ecosystems:
An integrated approach for development
to reduce the digital divides
among regions
- among SME and LE
to foster local economic growth and innovation; new forms of dynamic business interactions,
enabled by new paradigms and digital ecosystem technologies
Growth
Competitiveness,
market & internal
efficiency
Cooperation &
innovation networks
improve
lead to
encourage
provide
resources
ICTs
catalyse
improve
“Digital Ecosystem
Infrastructure”
Open Source
Evolutionary
infrastructure
make
viable
shape
& foster
supports
support
Bio-Paradigms
enhances
New organizational
& business models
Policy
supports
Derivative work from
P.Dini - London School of Economics

8. Which ICT technology for innovation ecosystems ?
“… the actual slowly changing network of organizations will be replaced by more fluid, amorphous and often transitory structures based in alliances, partnership and collaborations”...
“…building a community that share business, knowledge and infrastructure, develop creativity”
“The support to SMEs and innovation requires a further stage in ITC technology adoptions and an infrastructure which exploits the dynamic interaction (cooperation and competition) of several players
in order to produce systemic results;
innovation and economic development.”
“Towards a Network of digital business ecosystems fostering the local development ” (EC, Discussion paper, 2002)
But one business model fits all ?
But one infrastructure fits all ?

9. The Digital Ecosystem, the carrier for services and ideas (+ their integration)
Who owns it?
What does it contain?
What‘s the destination?
Which is the revenue model ?
Owner
Serial-ID
Check-ID
Country
ISO Ident
Courtesy from DBE project

10. The digital ecosystem Which ICT infrastructure for this new paradigm ?
How could ICT support the transition from industrial district to knowledge-based business ecosystem ?
Integrated scalable approach with intermediate results
How to create ICT infrastructure that allows digital components to exhibit behaviour of natural ecosystems?
Computing and telecom.
Infrastructure
ICT service-knowledge-oriented architecture
affordable ICT services
Diffused + Digitalised knowledge

11. What is a Digital Ecosystem ?
THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM
is a pervasive “digital environment”
that supports the business ecosystems
that is populated by “digital components”
that evolves / adapts to local conditions with the evolution of its components
THE “SOFT” SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE,
WHICH MEDIATES
SERVICES & INFORMATION (knowledge)
EMPOWERING THE NETWORKING AND THEIR SHARING
architecture / structure

12. What is a Digital Component ?
DIGITAL COMPONENTS
could be: software components, applications, services, knowledge, business processes and models, training modules, contractual frameworks, laws and hopefully a mixture of all these
ANY USEFUL IDEA,
EXPRESSED IN A LANGUAGE (formal or natural),
DIGITALISED AND LAUNCHED ON THE NET,
WHICH CAN BE PROCESSED (by computers and/or humans)
Repres. of service:
biz model
rev. model
comp. model
ref. to Ontology
formalised knowledge

13. The innovation ecosystem
Derivative work from Salzburg Technical University
Digital ecosystem: an o-s, public, distributed, pervasive environm.
transport, identification, match (services, knowledge)
- spontaneous evolution, adaptation and composition of services, digital content and sw components
- embedding knowledge, biz rules, revenue models, ontology...

14. Economy changes needed infrastructures too
Hamburg, Harbour in 1900
Hamburg, Harbour in 2006
The Digital Ecosystem is the transport infrastructure for the services and knowledge
Courtesy from DBE project

15. Conceptual Layers of ecosystems

16. Conceptual Layers of ecosystems

17. Conceptual Layers of ecosystems

18. Conceptual Layers of ecosystems

19. Conceptual Layers of ecosystems

20. The innovation ecosystem
Economy (business ecosystem)
Structural coupling
ICT (digital ecosystem)
Derivative work from Salzburg Technical University

21. Digital Ecosystem Dynamic aggregation of ICT-services
Digital (ICT) Services
ICT service
Aggregated
Complex,
personalised,
ICT-services
ICT service
ICT-SME
Inputs
ICT service
ICT service
DE structural services*
Rules, models,
context
Digital Ecosystem infrastrucutre
DE structural services, e.g.
Accounting
Billing
Authentication
Reputation
Decentralized Data Storage
Fitness data
Needs of ICT solutions,
Profile of users, of ICT needs

22. Digital Ecosystem Dynamic aggregation of final services (and SMEs)
ICT service
ICT product
SME
Offers
ICT service
1. Networks of SMEs
ICT service
Digital Services, applications
2. Final Services
Aggregated
Complex,
personalised,
Services / Solutions
Rules, models,
context
DEstructural services*
Digital Ecosystem infrastructure
Needs of ICT services, solutions,
profile of providers, profile of users

23. DE Roadmap - past events
Sep Discussion Paper
End Cycle of Workshops
Nov Start 1st integrated project DBE
Apr Cycle of Workshops - re-tuning DE concept
June Position paper - Research vision 2010
July Int’l Summer School - EU bisness ecosystems
Nov WSIS - Int’l interest for EU models
Feb nd digital ecosystem cluster meting - Launch of Innovation Ecosystem Initiative

24. DE Roadmap - Consultation Process
Feb-June : Multi-stakeholder open consultation process for the Innovation Ecosystem Initiative.
Defining
future innovation and research initiatives in digital ecosystems and priorities (FP7)
strategy and instruments for a pan-European deployment and mechanisms for local self-sustainability (CIP; structural funds, nat’l initiatives)
roadmap for technical development (needs , …)
structures and the bodies needed for
the sustainability of the local/regional digital business ecosystems,
the global technical interoperability of the technical infrastructure,
the definition of a “bill of rights”: the “constitutional” ethical rules and the obligations, of the digital ecosystems
the legal framework

25. The cluster of EU FP7 projects

26. The Deployment - The International network

28. DE Roadmap - future June 2006 - Start of 1st NoE on Ecosystems
July Stakeholder position paper
Sept Staff working paper on Innovation Ecosystems
Nov DBE conference
Dec Initial governance structures
End Digital Ecosystem Pilot regions, st national charter

29. More information …