Innovation Ecosystems 2025

The design of spaces matters – thoughtful design can foster the “collision of ideas” necessary for innovation, physical infrastructure can be optimized for testing and demonstration, and community spaces can be created to attract and retain diverse talent. To successfully do this, spaces must be planned from the start – setting out a compelling placemaking strategy to create a stimulating, collaborative environment, whilst also allowing for serendipity and the flexibility to evolve over time, whether to accommodate growth, macro or local sector and societal changes. The following design components transform physical environments into dynamic innovation ecosystems: –Designing spaces that drive innovation. –Creating flexible infrastructure for testing and demonstration. –Building vibrant community spaces.  These components deliver on some of the guiding principles for innovation by creating environments that are: Human-centric by design. Resilient through future-focused and adaptable infrastructure. Accessible through the programming and allocation of community-building spaces.There are many practical examples of innovation districts that have achieved this dynamic transformation around the world. The case studies profiled in this report show how placemaking is embedded in different geographical contexts, scales and stages of development – whether repurposing existing urban spaces, delivering ambitious new masterplans or working at a city scale to better integrate spaces both old and new. For example: INNOVATION DISTRICT SPOTLIGHT 5: Milan’s Innovation District (MIND) shows how a legacy World Expo site can be transformed into the country’s biggest innovation district, setting a blueprint for scale and replication elsewhere.31 INNOVATION DISTRICT SPOTLIGHT 6: Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah Company shows how human-centric placemaking is conceived from the start as part of a larger strategic masterplan to attract the high-value firms and people it wants.32 INNOVATION DISTRICT SPOTLIGHT 7: Morocco’s City of Agadir shows how placemaking at a city scale can support inclusive innovation and catalyse new ideas.333.1 Delivering on the principles: three components of good placemaking for innovation districtsFrom the Greek agora to the library of Alexandria to the Parisian coffee shops where French revolutionaries plotted, the gestation and sharing of ideas has been enabled by physical spaces where people gather.  Cities, over history, have functioned as a hotbed of innovation – creating synergies from a critical mass of people, ideas and economic buoyancy. Key factors have included: –A mechanism for the rapid spread of ideas: press, guilds, town squares. –A mechanism for the build-up of knowledge: libraries, universities, institutions. –24/7 animation: a hustle and bustle that endures across days, seasons, cycles. In many cases, the innovative character of cities has emerged organically within a synergistic socio/ economic/political context. In many more, it has been the result of strategic investments and policy. Scale and density have been their allies. Innovation districts by contrast are typically smaller than a downtown. And the authorship is more distinct. Recent decades have seen the emergence of successful districts, super- charging an innovation-based economy. The next few pages point towards worthwhile examples for us to analyse and be inspired by. Ultimately, every new place will need to embrace a bespoke approach, with vision, diligence and chutzpah. Antonio Gómez-Palacio CEO, DIALOG Innovation Ecosystems: A Toolkit of Principles and Best Practice 24