Water BOOST Enabling Innovation for Future Ready Cities 2025

The first principle recognizes that innovation cannot thrive in the absence of essential components. The MVS consists of four core enabling stakeholder groups and the enablers that connect them. If any of these are missing, inactive or poorly connected, the system lacks the capacity to support innovation at scale. Figure 5 illustrates two common configurations where innovation ecosystems become non- functional or underperforming: (A) An enabling stakeholder is missing (e.g. no investor presence or disengaged regulator), weakening decision-making, financing or implementation. (B) Critical enablers are absent (e.g. lack of permitting pathways or co-financing), disrupting the relationships between actors and preventing system alignment. A functional innovation ecosystem requires all core elements of the minimal viable system (MVS)Principle 1 Water-BOOST Principle 1: Two examples of incomplete MVS configurations FIGURE 5 Source: World Economic ForumMinimal viable system (MVS) Enabling stakeholders EnablersMissing stakeholderE1 E3 E2 E5 E4(A) Missing enabler Missing enabler E3 E2 E5(B) This principle reinforces the importance of both structure and connectivity: all core stakeholders must be represented, and the enablers linking them must be strong enough to support collaboration, risk-sharing and scaling. Where elements are weak or absent, the system may stall or remain fragmented – not due to a lack of innovation but because the enabling environment cannot support its delivery. Water-BOOST: Enabling Innovation for Future-Ready Cities 18