The Shapers

The digital ecosystem is very fluid. Some key actors structure it and facilitate the flow of knowledge and money. They host the start-ups, incubate them in their early phase until they build their MVP (minimum viable product) and help them to scale. They can be non-profit and entirely subsidized by government agencies, in that case they target job creation and energizing declining economies and retaining young talents in a region. They can also be entirely private and living on their own profits.  The following gust report gives a very good overview of the Incubator/Accelerators landscape which is hard to precisely size. Large corporations have also implemented incubators where they can attract start-ups tackling their innovation issues. In exchange they can fund the projects, open up markets and customers for them. The business model for private incubators and accelerators can be challenging. They often fund themselves on an amount of equity, they recover when the start-up is purchased or raise capital. This can be a lengthy process of several years and even if they incubate a large number of start-ups to hit a reasonable success rate, it is not a win at all times. Hence incubators sell innovation services to established companies, or focus on scaling start-ups when they generate profits. Universities and business schools creating entrepreneurship curriculum are also shapers of the ecosystem. The shapers give the ecosystem a structure, similar to key hubs that accelerate the circulation of information and value in the ecosystem.