‘Ecosystem building’ was once an economic strategy. Now what?

In 1935, English botanist Arthur Tansley coined the term “ecosystem” to describe our emerging understanding that a biological system operates as an interlocking series of species. You can’t remove the rubber trees without affecting the fruit flies and the tree frogs and the jaguars and so on.

This was extended as a metaphor to describe “business ecosystems” by Jim Moore in a 1993 Harvard Business Review article and his subsequent book “The Death of Competition.” Silicon Valley types liked how “ecosystem” described what seemed especially true of their emerging tech community: Big corporates needed employees who socialized together and startups that piloted inventive approaches with a buzz of service providers.

Without the fruit fly, so to speak, northern California wouldn’t become Silicon Valley.

At least since the Great Recession, economic leaders in regions around the world have sought to cultivate their own tech ecosystems — or startup ecosystems, or innovation ecosystems, depending on your own economic strategy. The Kauffman Foundation and Aol founder Steve Case made investments for self-described “ecosystem building.” In 2011, a group of civic-minded entrepreneurs launched the Startup Champions Network, a collection of local organizers who identified themselves as “ecosystem builders.” Big corporations in mid-sized cities employed people with “ecosystem” in their job titles, and tech-enamored business types added the term to their biographies. Many used the word “community” interchangeably with “ecosystem” because there was a social element: These weren’t just business and industry efforts, but they frequently incorporated civic goals and hometown pride. Meetups and glitzy conferences proliferated.

Someday the metaphor will feel dated, but I use the jargon myself because it’s effective — and most of these local efforts were more nuanced than rebranding as the “Silicon Valley of something.”

Today feels far from the 2010s, though. After a pandemic period of disruption, what has changed about ecosystem building?

I talked about this with a dozen CEOs over dinner this week. Tech meetups are back, but a chasm has opened between generations of entrepreneurs. Those with companies that survived the pandemic sound haggard, after valuation collapse. Many are hiring remotely so they’ve withdrawn from their perch as hometown boosters.

In contrast, I emceed a small conference on Friday, and I met a few first-time entrepreneurs who were getting their bearings just like founders did years ago. Out of the COVID-19 fog, we collectively stumble into a new normal.

Remote work has shifted and downtowns are being reimagined, but count me in for three bets on what won’t change: Meaningful collaboration will still take place in person; tech workers will hang out in person; and cities will still matter.

Yet, ecosystems have been affected. For one, city leaders ought to swap their old focus on companies for one on people instead. If that means one species in the ecosystem is different, then you might safely ask, what else will change?

As one analysis projects: Business travel will never return to pre-pandemic levels. Lots more business and social connection takes place virtually, and we are tethered farther apart, even if local hasn’t lost its meaning. Entrepreneurship is booming, especially among women who want out of restrictive workplaces. That means employee wellness and racial justice efforts progressed. Government subsidy advanced mRNA vaccinations and kickstarted the age of AI. Meanwhile, big trends were further identified: demographic shifts and soured globalization. Trust declined and partisanship widened.

That’s enough change to count it as a new era. Ecosystem builders today are playing with different cards, even if the game of economic growth and access remains the same.

The business ecosystem metaphor still works just like Tansley’s original biological introduction of the world remains effective even through radical scientific advancements. We often know how systems work before we understand why they do.