BEST&BRIGHTEST: Ecosystems for talents. How do they affect the development of intellectual potential and our reputation in the world?
Business borrowed the term “ecosystem” from biology. The trend for its creation in the mid-2010s was set by the IT giants. According to McKinsey, by 2025, up to 30% of the world’s corporate income will be generated by digital business ecosystems – dynamic communities that create new value through collaboration and competition.
Not only such “advanced” companies as Apple or Toyota are actively developing their ecosystems. This approach also attracts the attention of governments. For example, Canada is planning to unite industry companies and scientific organizations into one innovation network.
About how ecosystems for talent affect the development of intellectual potential and our reputation in the world, we asked the founder of UFuture Vasily Khmelnytsky.
WHY DOES UKRAINE NEED ECOSYSTEMS?
Many have not understood this yes. The presence and quality of ecosystems is an important sign of an advanced country in the 21st century. In the last century, it took decades from the moment an idea appeared to the moment a product was mass-produced based on that idea. First, science created the concept. Then the technology centers translated it into a prototype. And then – there was a launch of production lines.
Today these processes have accelerated tenfold. Innovation is born in ecosystems. An idea flares up first. The key point is that its author does not spend years looking for partners and investors. Because here, in the ecosystem, there are people who can assess the prospects of an idea, determine whether consumers need it, conduct tests, do marketing, finance production and scaling.
SOCIAL CHEMISTRY
The ecosystem is a breeding ground for science and business, it connects them and gives them the opportunity to strengthen each other. “A whirlpool of capital, customer interest and talent generated by new innovation,” the English philosopher George Edward Moore formulated the concept of ecosystem. He compared the importance of ecosystems for the progress of science and entrepreneurship to the importance of sunlight, water and soil for the emergence of life.
It is very important to maintain a balance of components when creating such an environment. In particular, from the point of view of development. If we give more than the necessary business segment, we will get a business center, if we give more young startups – there will be a student dormitory.
Developing UNIT.City, we maintain this balance, saturating our ecosystem with the right proportion of R&D and training centers, business incubators, start-ups, venture and investment business, large international companies. Just social chemistry.
MAGNET FOR TALENTS
A sign that you did everything right is that the ecosystem is starting to attract residents. It becomes a magnet for talents, investors and entrepreneurs. And, as a consequence, it is a growth point for the whole country in the future.
Today ecosystems of developed countries, such as the USA, Israel, China, EU countries, massively attract and absorb our talents, endangering Ukraine’s ability to economic growth and evolutionary development.
Ukraine can be fully proud of itself only when highly competitive ecosystems of opportunities appear in our country for talented Ukrainians and people from other countries.
In the 21st century, the presence of such systems is a necessary condition for the development and success of a country on the world stage. I am glad that the location of the largest innovation park in Eastern Europe is Kiev.
