High-tech fish tanks?

Recently, I was asked to give my input on the topic “governance models for innovation ecosystems.” If you’ve been part of the European Horizon funding programs, or any national equivalent, such lingo will make perfect sense to you. Governments have stepped up their game, and instead of – initially – aiming for startups and – later on – scaleups, the goals are now often to set up whole ecosystems.

Many countries are trying to cultivate a mix of artificial intelligence, quantum, photonics, semiconductor, space, robotics and other high-tech ecosystems. This requires some sort of monitoring, supervision and management – after all, the taxpayer money is on the line here. But governance of ecosystems, isn’t that a contradiction in terms?