TGB //Ecosystem Navigator
For Economic Development Officers

Your Region Has Assets.
Are They Connected?

In 5 minutes, Ecosystem Navigator maps your innovation ecosystem across 35 strategic dimensions — talent pipelines, capital access, cluster strength, institutional coordination, and more. See where the system works, where it breaks, and what to prioritize next.

35-dimension scorecardYour institutions, mappedIEDC-aligned action plan
No account required10 questions, 5 minutes100+ research citations

Annual reports count prospect meetings and jobs announced. This tells you whether the innovation system driving those outcomes is healthy — or running on momentum.

Sound Familiar?

These are the questions that keep EDO directors up at night. The diagnostic tells you where you actually stand.

"We invest in talent — then they leave."

Brain drain isn't a marketing problem. The diagnostic reveals whether your ecosystem has the knowledge systems, capital access, and employer base to retain graduates — or if you're subsidizing talent for other regions.

"Our CEDS looks great. Nothing's changed."

The strategy-execution gap is usually a coordination gap. The diagnostic shows which actors aren't connected and where your brokering efforts will have the most systemic impact.

"We can't articulate our differentiation to site selectors."

If you struggle to explain why a company should locate here over the next county, the ecosystem lacks a clear identity. The diagnostic identifies what actually differentiates your region — and what doesn't.

"The board wants ROI on our incentive spending."

Incentive packages are one tool. This diagnostic scores the entire system — are those investments creating conditions for compounding growth, or one-off wins?

The System Behind Your Performance Metrics

Jobs announced and prospect meetings measure activity. The Virtuous Innovation Cycle (VIC) measures the system that produces those outcomes. EDOs are positioned to broker fixes at every transition point.

Phase I — Knowledge & Talent

The pipeline you recruit from

Universities, research labs, workforce programs. Is the region producing the knowledge and talent that target industries need — or are you promising what doesn't exist?

Phase II — Connections & Collisions

Where your brokering matters most

Incubators, accelerators, industry-university partnerships. Are the right actors connecting, or operating in silos? This is the EDO's home turf — reducing coordination costs.

Phase III — Creation & Impact

The outputs that justify your budget

Startups, FDI integration, job creation, local purchasing. Are investments translating into measurable economic outcomes? This is what site selectors and boards evaluate.

Phase IV — Reinvestment & Growth

The compounding effect

Do successes reinvest locally? Are exits recycling capital, graduates staying to build, and anchor firms deepening local supply chains? This is the difference between one-off wins and sustainable growth.

What You Get in 5 Minutes

A diagnostic report built on your region's actual institutions — not a generic template.

Ecosystem Diagnosis

A structured narrative explaining where knowledge, talent, and capital flow in your region — naming your institutions, citing your scores. See which VIC transitions are working and where coordination breaks down.

Innovation Asset Map

Every university, research lab, incubator, VC firm, and EDO in your area — plotted on a map. Useful for board presentations, CEDS updates, and identifying partnership gaps.

Prioritized Actions

Research-backed recommendations ranked by impact, framed as actions your organization can broker or facilitate. Each identifies specific local actors who should be at the table.

Not Another Survey. Not ChatGPT.

Activity reports count prospect meetings and jobs announced. This tells you whether the system producing those outcomes is healthy.

What annual reports tell your board
  • Prospect meetings held: 127
  • New jobs announced: 340
  • BRE visits completed: 89
  • Investment attracted: $12M
What this diagnostic tells you
  • “Phase II→III is the bottleneck — ideas and talent are entering the system, but conversion to new ventures is stalling. Three accelerators within 40km aren’t connected to the university pipeline.”
  • “Your workforce pipeline scores 3.8 but capital access scores 1.9 — talent is staying, but has nowhere local to deploy.”
  • “FDI operates as an enclave — no local supply chain integration. Consider supplier development program with...”

Questions from EDO Directors

How is this different from our CEDS process?▾
A CEDS takes months and costs tens of thousands of dollars. This diagnostic takes 5 minutes and gives you a structured, scored baseline your CEDS process can build on. Use it to identify gaps before you convene stakeholders, or to validate whether your current strategy addresses the right bottlenecks. Many EDOs run the diagnostic annually to track progress between full CEDS cycles.
Will the questions make sense for economic development?▾
The questions cover talent pipelines, capital access, cluster strength, institutional coordination, BRE dynamics, FDI integration, workforce readiness, and more. Each question is localized to your region — referencing your actual institutions, accelerators, and economic development organizations. You're rating the ecosystem you work in every day.
Can I share this with my board or council?▾
Absolutely. The report includes a shareable link, PDF export, and structured visualizations (scorecard, VIC diagram, asset map) designed for board presentations. The language is professional and evidence-based — not academic. It translates complex ecosystem dynamics into the format board members and elected officials expect.
How is this different from asking ChatGPT about our region?▾
ChatGPT gives you plausible-sounding generalities. This diagnostic uses a proprietary research framework (LINK) built on corporate strategy theory, Harvard/MIT Economic Complexity research, and insights from 50+ ecosystem leader interviews. Every question is localized to your specific region. The output is a structured, scored analysis — not a prose summary.
What does the free version include?▾
The free report includes an executive summary, Virtuous Innovation Cycle (VIC) diagnosis, innovation asset map of your region's institutions, ecosystem scorecard across 35 strategic dimensions, and a prioritized action plan with 100+ research citations. Pro users can unlock deep-dive modules for granular analysis of each strategic dimension.
Can other stakeholders in my region run the diagnostic too?▾
Yes — and they should. When your university VP Research, local government, and investor community each run the diagnostic from their perspective, you get a multi-stakeholder view of the same system. The underlying diagnosis is consistent; only the framing changes. This is how you build shared understanding across ecosystem actors.

Five Minutes. Your Ecosystem. Your Evidence Base.

You already know your region has potential. Find out if the system supporting it is working.

Get your region's report — free

No account required · Results in 60 seconds · Share with your board