Innovation ecosystems are reshaping how organisations tackle complex challenges. In this series, we explore what innovation ecosystems really mean beyond "setting up a coalition," and how teams can move from good intentions to governed, scalable collaboration. What does a healthy ecosystem actually look like? How do you build alignment across partners with different goals and incentives?
When does informal coordination help — and when does it become the bottleneck? And is orchestrating an ecosystem a one-time design job, or an ongoing capability that needs to continuously evolve with its participants? Whether you're building a new coalition from scratch, trying to unstick one that has stalled, or looking for practical tools from practitioners, you'll find insights, frameworks, and perspectives to help you lead your ecosystem with clarity and real impact.
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Nadine Roijakkers is an expert in designing and steering innovation ecosystems in complex, multi-actor settings. She translates research into practical frameworks that explain why ecosystems succeed or stall as they grow — giving leaders and policymakers concrete insights into governance choices, roles, and KPIs to scale impact over time.
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Margot Felix brings hands-on experience orchestrating regional innovation ecosystems through public-private collaboration. In her deep-dive case, she makes governance challenges concrete — reflecting on real decisions around roles, formalisation, and conflict management across maturity phases.
Rolf van Haren helps organisations assess and develop innovation ecosystems through a data-driven approach. In his hands-on workshop, he translates the maturity model into concrete scores on culture, structure, processes, and KPIs — giving participants a clear view of their current ecosystem phase and a practical growth path forward.
Yves Vanderbeken examines how governments can enable self-directed citizen services through ecosystems of trusted partners. His deep-dive case offers evidence-based insights into platform governance — exploring how governments define their moderator role, establish trust, and support autonomy across partner networks, without creating the very dependencies they set out to avoid.
