Tech Ecosystem Collaboration

The technologies of the future are created and commercialized in innovation hubs that combine scientific excellence with entrepreneurial ambition. There are thousands of such hubs around the world, and our Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 seeks to shine a light on those doing well through the GII Ranking of World’s Top 100 Innovation Clusters. For the first time, we have included VC data alongside international patent filings and scientific publications. Adding the VC lens has shifted the top of the table slightly, helping to push China’s Greater Bay Area into number one spot, nudging the Tokyo-Yokohama cluster into second, and lifting Silicon Valley from sixth to third spot this year. Beijing was ranked fourth. Each of those clusters led in a different way. Tokyo-Yokohama was the single biggest source of international patent filings, while the Silicon Valley cluster (around San Jose and San Francisco) attracted more venture capital than anywhere else. Beijing led the world in terms of the number of scientific publications. The Greater Bay Area, which encompasses Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, did not lead in any of the three categories, but its strong showings across the board gave it a balanced profile and put it in first place overall. This cluster ranking, as well as our flagship Global Innovation Index (out on 16 September), is designed to help policymakers, business leaders and researchers better understand the local and global innovation landscape, and to design policies that make innovation ecosystems more vibrant. 33 economies are covered by our list of the top 100 clusters, including Germany (which has seven clusters), India and the United Kingdom (four each) and Canada and the Republic of Korea (which has three, like Japan). Propelled by the new methodology and strong performance in VC deals, Indian clusters have made remarkable advancements, with Bengaluru jumping from 56th to 21st position, Delhi to 26th (compared to 63rd) and Mumbai to 46th (compared to 88th). In addition to the dynamic hubs in China and India, six vibrant innovation hubs from middle-income countries also feature in the top 100: Brazil (São Paulo), Egypt (Cairo – the top-100 cluster in Africa), Iran (Tehran), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Türkiye (Istanbul) and Mexico (Mexico City) – which enters the top 100 this year for the first time and makes up the second innovation cluster within Latin America. Outside the top 100, some of the leading middle-income economy innovation clusters are Ankara (Türkiye), Bangkok (Thailand), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Islamabad and Lahore (Pakistan), and Rio De Janeiro and Porto Alegre (Brazil). These clusters show how the combination of strategic investments coupled with supportive policy frameworks can build thriving ecosystems. More: https://lnkd.in/e882jzRp #WIPO #GlobalInnovationIndex #GII2025

The recent news that both OpenAI and Anthropic are opening offices in Zurich reminded me of Michael Porter's seminal 1998 Harvard Business Review article "Clusters and the New Economics of Competition". In it, Porter explored clusters — geographic areas that become unusually successful in specific industries. Porter observed that despite expectations that globalization and faster communication would reduce the importance of location, the opposite occurred. The global economy continues to be dominated by clusters - geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in particular fields. Zurich exemplifies this perfectly. ETH Zurich, consistently ranked among the world's top technical universities, has been a cornerstone of technical innovation for decades. Google's Zurich office, recently celebrating over 20 years and home to ~6,000 employees, has grown into their largest engineering hub in Europe. This has helped catalyze a broader tech ecosystem, with Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Nvidia, and numerous startups establishing significant engineering presence in the region. Why do such clusters thrive? Porter's framework explains how they create a multiplier effect where companies can gain the benefits of scale without sacrificing flexibility: Talent Pools: ETH Zurich provides a constant stream of top-tier technical talent, while the presence of major tech companies attracts experienced professionals globally. This creates a deep, self-reinforcing talent pool that benefits companies of all sizes. Knowledge Networks: The proximity of academic research at ETH, Big Tech R&D, and startup innovation creates dense networks of technical knowledge and market intelligence. This environment is particularly crucial for AI development, where advances often emerge from the intersection of academic research and industrial applications. Ecosystem Benefits: Companies operate more efficiently through better access to specialized suppliers, institutions, and coordinated activities with related firms. The mature ecosystem built around Google's two-decade presence has created infrastructure and support services that new entrants like OpenAI and Anthropic can instantly leverage. Most intriguingly, once a cluster forms, it often enters a self-reinforcing growth cycle, especially when supported by local institutions and healthy competition. As the cluster expands, so does its influence on policy and institutions. Zurich's evolution from academic excellence to established tech hub and now emerging AI cluster showcases Porter's framework in action. The arrival of OpenAI and Anthropic suggests this cycle is entering an exciting new phase. Links in the comments

A roadmap is not a strategy! Yet, most strategy docs are roadmaps + frameworks. This isn't because teams are dumb. It's because they lack predictable steps to follow. This is where I refer them to Ed Biden's 7-step process: — 1. Objective → What problem are we solving? Your objective sets the foundation. If you can’t define this clearly, nothing else matters. A real strategy starts with: → What challenge are we responding to? → Why does this problem matter? → What happens if we don’t solve it? — 2. Users → Who are we serving? Not all users are created equal. A strong strategy answers: · What do they need most? · Who exactly are we solving for? · What problems are they already solving on their own? A strategy without sharp user focus leads to feature bloat. — 3. Superpowers → What makes us different? If you’re competing on the same playing field as everyone else, you’ve already lost. Your strategy must define: · What can we do 10x better than anyone else? · Where can we persistently win? · What should we not do? This is where strategy meets competitive advantage. — 4. Vision → Where are we going? A roadmap tells you what’s next. A vision tells you why it matters. Most PMs confuse vision with strategy. But a vision is long-term. It’s a north star. Your strategy answers: How do we get there? — 5. Pillars → What are our focus areas? If everything is a priority, nothing really is. In my 15 years of experience, great strategy always come with a trade-offs: → What are our big bets? → What do we need to execute to move towards our vision? → What are we intentionally not doing? — 6. Impact → How do we measure success? Most teams obsess over vanity metrics. A great strategy tracks what actually drives business success. What outcomes matter? → How will we track progress? → What signals tell us we’re on the right path? — 7. Roadmap → How do we execute? A roadmap should never be a list of everything you could do. It should be a focus list of what truly matters. Problems and outcomes are the currency here. Not dates and timelines. — For personal examples of how I do this, check out my post: https://lnkd.in/e5F2J6pB — Hate to break it to you, but you might be operating without a strategy. You might have a nicely formatted strategy doc in front of you, but it’s just a… A roadmap? a feature list? a wishlist? If it doesn’t connect vision to execution, prioritize trade-offs, and define competitive edge… It’s not strategy. It’s just noise.

Do you also feel your roadmap planning is a counterproductive waste of time? Change that to a productive exercise that will set your success 12 months ahead with the following 10 pieces of advice: 1) Start too early The earlier you start, the more time you have to align with stakeholders and refine priorities. October might feel early, but having a draft ready before the year ends allows for feedback and stressless adjustments. 2) Clarify goals and strategy A roadmap without a clear purpose is just a wish list. Tie it to business goals, customer needs, and your overarching strategy. This gives your roadmap direction and credibility. 3) Allow everyone to chip in Your roadmap will be stronger if it includes diverse perspectives. Devs will ask for essential technical investments, sales understand customer pain points, and support hears complaints daily. Use their input to ensure your roadmap addresses real needs. 4) Double-check with legal Don't overlook this! Legal compliance can make or break your plans, especially in industries like fintech, healthcare, or data-heavy products. A quick legal review now can save you from costly setbacks later. 5) Organize a brainstorming workshop Bring stakeholders together for a focused brainstorming session. Use sticky notes, whiteboards, or virtual tools to encourage creativity. Workshops help uncover ideas you might not have considered and build alignment early. 6) Put an effort estimate on the most promising items Prioritization isn't just about impact; effort matters too. Collaborate with your devs to estimate the time and resources needed for each initiative. This helps balance quick wins with high-impact projects and helps choose the actual roadmap items during prioritization. 7) Ask your designer to put some quick visuals for the selected initiatives A picture is worth a thousand words. Having simple visuals for key roadmap items can help stakeholders grasp the vision faster and ensure everyone is aligned on what success looks like. 8) Organize work by quarters, not months, and especially not sprints Quarterly planning gives enough flexibility to adapt while still maintaining structure. Monthly plans can feel too rigid, and sprint-level roadmaps are operational, not strategic. Keep your roadmap focused on the big picture. 9) Leave room to breathe Don't overload the roadmap. Unexpected challenges will arise, and new opportunities will pop up. Leaving 20-30% of capacity unplanned ensures you can adapt without derailing the entire roadmap. 10) Be careful with your comms Communicate clearly that the roadmap is a direction, not a commitment. You’re agile, not waterfall. Keep flexibility baked into your messaging to avoid frustration later. So, does your roadmap planning feel like it produces something meaningful? Let me know in the comments! #productmanagement #productmanager #roadmap P.S. If you liked this read, be sure to catch more with my free newsletter. Subscribe at: www. drbartpm. com :)

  WIPO Global Innovation Index 2025 – #Zürich anchors Switzerland’s innovation leadership – fueling a thriving Swiss AI & robotics ecosystem across Zürich, #Lausanne & #Geneva!   Live from Hong Kong Science Park: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has just released the Top 100 Global Innovation Clusters ranking, now based on patents, publications, and venture capital investments. Results here: https://lnkd.in/evjAcgKH 🇨🇭 Will Switzerland top the Global Innovation Index again in 2025? Here are the 2024 results https://lnkd.in/euxnBskw showing how Switzerland continues to punch above its weight – combining academic excellence, corporate R&D, and startups. For 2025, we shall find out on Sept 16, 2025 (https://lnkd.in/eG66K528) 🇨🇭 What we know today from World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO Ranking of World’s Top 100 Innovation Clusters https://lnkd.in/evjAcgKH: #Zürich remains Switzerland’s top cluster in the global Top 100 – ranked 14th worldwide by intensity (innovation output per population and 40th worldwide by size.  🇨🇭 Swiss startups are scaling globally: supported by growing VC flows, a new generation of companies in AI, robotics, biotech, and climate tech are pushing Switzerland onto the global stage of innovation. ✨ Highlights for Zürich    ~2,045 patent filings, 12,211 scientific publications, and 730 VC deals per million inhabitants (2019–2023).  Knowledge leaders: ETH Zürich, University of Zurich, Empa.  Top patenting actors: ETH Zürich, Sika Technology, IBM. 🇨🇭 Startups and scale-ups driving the boom: The below chart from the Greater Zurich Area highlights the thriving AI and software ecosystem in the area with the main player in AI co-locating in Zürich like OpenAI or NVIDIA start-ups like ANYbotics (robotics for industrial inspection), Sevensense Robotics (AI navigation for autonomous robots), NNAISENSE (deep learning & AI solutions), Daedalean AI (AI for autonomous aviation systems), Scandit (computer vision & smart data capture), InSphero (biotech & 3D cell culture) and others on the interface of medicine, transport, finance, neurotech, aviation and automation thriving.DealRoomm   🇨🇭The Swiss innovation triangle:  Together, Zürich, Lausanne, and Geneva form a European frontier-tech hub – world-class science, venture capital, and startups.   EPFLL (Lausanne): spearheading robotics, AI, quantum, and energy research with spinoffs like Flyability (drones for inspection) and Lunaphore (biotech diagnostics). Ville de Genèvee: vibrant in fintech (Temenos, Taurus), medtech (Distalmotion, Sophia Genetics), and cleantech, connected to international organizations and global investors, andGenolier Innovation Hubb.

Why are some cities innovation powerhouses while others lag behind? This recent study uses 100+ years of U.S. patent data to uncover fractal and scaling patterns that explain how innovation clusters, spreads, and self-organizes in space. By combining patent records with geometric network modeling, the research shows that inventor activity forms fractal clusters, follows Zipf-like scaling, and reaches a peak “inequality horizon” at ~20 km where clustering and diffusion balance. The takeaway: innovation isn’t driven only by major hubs like Silicon Valley - it emerges from the geometry of human connections. Strengthening regional links, not just concentrating growth in large cities, can support more equitable and resilient innovation ecosystems. More: https://lnkd.in/dMEF_3MP #365Papers #Day332 —-------------------------------------------------------- 🌍 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞: https://lnkd.in/d4spRwNA

Lessons from Women’s Cooperatives in Senegal’s Irrigation Journey I recently visited a women’s farming cooperative in Senegal that had received a donor-funded solar-powered pump and drip irrigation system. The transformation was evident: - Water use dropped by half. - Yields of vegetables more than doubled. - Labor hours for irrigation fell dramatically and profitability of agriculture from each farmer’s small area of allocated land soared. But here’s the challenge: I crossed the project boundary line to talk to the neighboring farmer. He was part of another scheme but refused to adopt the same technologies that he could see worked!  He had a small parcel in a competing donor project and had learned how to use those new technologies and adopt those practices, but on his own farm he still irrigates relies on rainfall and plows his fields with a donkey. The donor’s budgets are usually exhausted in the pilot, and there is no financing model to expand. Its a pattern I’ve seen across several countries: - Donor-driven pilots deliver impressive results but lack a pathway to scale. Neighboring farmers see the benefits but can’t access the technology on their own land. - Private suppliers hesitate to invest in sales and marketing and aftersales service without aggregated demand or financing for farmers. Scaling will almost always stall if there is no sustainable financing mechanism for replication. The use of excessive grants or subsidies in pilots to “demonstrate” technology hides true costs farmers face, and equipment remains donor-dependent. The World Bank Group is now designing and delivering our new projects with a combination of common sense farming, small business principles  and lower cost AgTech solutions: - Low cost solar-powered pumps with pay-as-you-go financing. - Modular irrigation systems that can be expanded as farmers grow. - Digital aggregators that use technology to consolidate products from multiple farmers and deliver them to wholesale buyers - Agribusiness supply chains providing an exchange of inputs, services and technologies for a secure supply of crops Where farmers are dispersed and cannot be supported through physical extension services, AI solutions are also playing an increasing role. These tools matter because they reduce risk for farmers and financiers: - AI scheduling ensures water is used only when needed, lowering costs. - IOT enabled Pay-as-you-go models spread capital costs over time, making adoption feasible. To design for scalability, we need to co-design solutions with farmers — not just for them. That means our advisory teams - Listen, learn and think like a farmer first, - Understand if farmers will bundle technology, financing and market access. - Aggregate demand to incentivize supply. My questions to you: - Have you seen irrigation projects in Africa successfully scale beyond the pilot phase? - What financing, aggregation, or market strategies made it work? #IFC #Agtech #AI4Agriculture #WBG

Reimagining Agriculture: A Roadmap for Frontier Technology-Led Transformation by NITI Aayog, Frontier Tech Hub (developed with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Confederation of Indian Industry, and Google) is a strategic compass for startups and companies shaping the future of India’s agri-value chain. For early growth stage agri-tech and agri-value chain startups, this roadmap offers clarity on where to focus: Digital Public Infrastructure (#AgriStack): Build solutions that plug into farmer databases, land records, and subsidy delivery systems across sates. Each state has its own nuances. Frontier Tech Adoption: AI, IoT, drones, and biotechnology are not “future tech”—they’re immediate opportunities for precision farming, supply chain transparency, and climate resilience. Sustainability & Carbon Markets: Tokenization of carbon credits and digital MRV systems open new revenue streams while aligning with ESG goals. Market Access & Inclusion: Blockchain-based traceability and digital FPOs can help startups empower smallholders while scaling operations. For companies seeking sustainable growth, the roadmap highlights how frontier technologies can: Unlock efficiency and productivity gains across fragmented supply chains. Enable responsible scaling by embedding sustainability into business models. Provide a policy-aligned pathway to 2047, ensuring long-term relevance and resilience. Frontier technologies are foundational to the next era of Indian agriculture. Startups that align with this roadmap will not only attract capital but also build solutions that matter for farmers, consumers, and the planet. It is a call to action for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, innovators, investors, and policymakers to collaborate and turn this vision into reality.  #digital_transformation #Agriculture #Frontier_technologies #Startups #entrepreneurship #Agritech

One of the first reports I published when I joined Delta-EE in 2021 aimed to answer the question "What is a Virtual Power Plant?" At the time, you could ask 6 people what they meant by Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and get 7 definitions. People were using VPP to describe everything from aggregation alone to the full stack required to monetise distributed energy resources (DERs), and everything in between. It was impossible to compare one VPP company to another. We needed a way to talk about VPPs as a commercial service, not just a vague concept. While working on local market platforms for DERs at Electron, I'd been thinking about the steps from customer to cash, and the framework I called the VPP Value Chain was born: 1️⃣ Customer Acquisition - often forgotten by many tech-led platforms   2️⃣ Asset Connection & Control - though gateways and APIs 3️⃣ Aggregation - by asset, brand, or home 4️⃣ Optimisation - deciding which markets deliver most value 5️⃣ Market Interface - robust market communications for bidding and dispatch 6️⃣ Settlement & Billing - managing the money flow back to the customer Fast forward to today, and I am now seeing the framework used by the biggest names in the energy transition to map their ecosystems and analyse commercial strategies: • gridX uses it to define the modularity of their XENON platform. • EDF Pulse has adopted it to clarify the complex journey of residential flexibility. • SET Ventures use it to classify 70 energy-tech innovators. Have you seen it anywhere else? Even 70 companies is barely scratching the surface. I can see over 1,000 companies in Europe delivering at least one element of this value chain for DERs. More companies are specialising in one or two elements, and partnering with others to complete the value chain. I still see many of these companies involved in the value chain proudly announcing that they will revolutionise the energy industry. I hate to rain on their parade, but the revolution has already started. But the industry doesn't stay still for long. With announcements like the recent investments in Fuse Energy and tem, or PowerHive's partnership with Distro Energy, are matching platforms coming back into play? Five years on, how do you see the value chain evolving?

🚀 Delta Sharing: The Open Protocol for Secure Data Exchange Traditionally, data sharing involved providing static CSV/Parquet file dumps based on ad-hoc requests, requiring data engineers to create extracts or build complex ETL pipelines. By the time data reached recipients, it was often outdated. Additionally, moving data across organizational boundaries increased security risks and required manual auditing as well. Delta Sharing, an open protocol, solves these challenges by enabling direct, real-time data exchange while ensuring security and governance. 🔍 What is Delta Sharing? Delta Sharing is an open-source protocol that allows data providers to securely share live data from their data lake or lakehouse with any recipient, regardless of the computing platform they use. It is designed to work with Delta Lake, but it also supports other formats like Apache Parquet. 🔧 What Problems Does Delta Sharing Solve? ✅ Eliminates Data Copies – Consumers can query shared data without duplicating or exporting it into another system. ✅ Interoperability – Enables cross-platform sharing across different cloud and analytics services, including Databricks, Apache Spark, Pandas, and others. ✅ Real-time & Secure Access – Uses fine-grained access control to ensure only authorized users can access the latest version of shared data. ✅ Simplified Data Collaboration – Reduces the need for custom APIs, FTP transfers, or complex ETL workflows when sharing data with external partners. 🛠 Key Components in a Delta Sharing Scenario - Provider (Data Owner) – The entity sharing the data. - Delta Sharing Server – Handles authentication and access control. - Recipient (Data Consumer) – The entity accessing the shared data, which can be a data warehouse, a machine learning model, or a BI tool. - Storage Backend – Typically an object store (AWS S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, MinIO) where the data resides. 📌 Common Use Cases for Delta Sharing 💡 Inter-company Data Exchange – Share supply chain, financial, or operational data with partners securely. 📊 Federated Analytics – Analysts can query live shared datasets without moving them into their own data warehouse. 🤖 Machine Learning & AI – Data scientists can directly access fresh, live data for model training without worrying about outdated extracts. ⚡ Data Monetization – Organizations can offer secure access to valuable datasets as a service without needing data pipelines. Delta Sharing + Unity Catalog Delta Sharing and Unity Catalog work together to enable secure, scalable, and governed data sharing across organizations. While Delta Sharing provides the protocol for sharing live data with external consumers, Unity Catalog acts as the central governance layer, ensuring fine-grained access control, auditing, and security compliance. I will write about this integration in the future. #deltasharing #datagovernance #datasharing