A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Capital Braid: Call to Action A direct address to the regional innovation leadership teams who must act To the mayors, county commissioners, regional economic development directors, university administration, chambers, and state and federal leadership teams...
8 days ago • 11 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Who Holds the Thread The Governance Layer Not a strand. The hands that weave all nine. Here’s the paradox at the center of this entire series. Across ten issues, we’ve named nine partner types. We have described what each needs, what each brings, and where...
15 days ago • 19 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Money The Accelerant Strand The strand everyone reaches for first, and the one that does the most damage when it arrives too early. We’ve saved Money for last on purpose. Every conversation about ecosystems starts here: more capital, more funds, more grants,...
22 days ago • 14 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Events + Media The Storytelling Strand The strand mistaken for marketing, and the one quietly doing the trust-building everything else depends on. When ecosystem builders think about Events + Media, they think promotion: the conference, the press release, the...
29 days ago • 16 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Trade + Industry Associations The Industry Alignment Strand The strand with the most leverage per relationship - and the one ecosystems most often forget to call. Most ecosystem building happens one organization at a time. One startup, one investor, one...
about 1 month ago • 14 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Service Providers The Business Process Strand The strand nobody puts on the ecosystem map - and the one that quietly determines professionalization and who survives. Before anything else, a distinction that most ecosystems never make, and then pay for not...
about 1 month ago • 17 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Youth + Academia The Talent Strand The strand the entire ecosystem runs on — and the one most likely to be training talent for somewhere else. Every ecosystem says talent is its top priority. Very few treat the Talent strand like the renewable resource it...
about 2 months ago • 14 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Startups The Proof Strand The strand everyone calls the output - and almost no one treats as a contributor. Ask an ecosystem what it’s building for, and the answer is usually some version of “successful startups.” Fair enough - the whole braid is designed to...
about 2 months ago • 13 min read
A stack is layers. A braid creates traction. The tensile strength of a rope doesn’t come from any single strand—it comes from how the strands pull together, reinforcing one another. That’s what a healthy innovation ecosystem looks like. Government Organizations The Infrastructure Strand The strand that sets the conditions everything else runs on — usually without anyone noticing, until it breaks. Most ecosystem builders think about Government in one of two modes: as a source of grant money,...
2 months ago • 10 min read