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Insights & Research

Innovation Ecosystem Insights

In-depth articles, practitioner interviews, and research summaries exploring how cities and regions build thriving innovation ecosystems. Published on The Groundbreakers.

The New Geography of Defence: Local Innovation Ecosystems Are the New Front Line

ArticleFebruary 20, 2026

National budgets are surging but local success is a science. Using innovation ecosystem analysis, we explore how cities and towns can transform from tactical outposts to high-value knowledge clusters.

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Cracking the Code of Local Prosperity

ArticleFebruary 16, 2026

While everyone debates AI, I built something with it. My extremely steep journey from "complete, total, and absolute" ignorance to shipping innovation ecosystem software that might actually matter.

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Lansing: How This 'Big Small City' Is Beating Global Economic Uncertainty

ArticleOctober 21, 2025

Where else will you find a 15-minute drive to a world-leading particle accelerator while living in the country? Plus, how a proud manufacturing heritage translates to global competitive advantage.

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How St. John’s is Forging Its Own Innovation Destiny

ArticleOctober 14, 2025

Innovation thrives in interconnected ecosystems built on collaboration, unique local strengths, and unwavering resilience. Learn how St. John's puts these principles into practice.

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The Edmonton Equation: How a City's Radical Repositioning is Driving Billions in Investment

ArticleOctober 8, 2025

Competing on the global stage--where hundreds of communities worldwide are after the same things--requires radical repositioning and relentless pursuit of new opportunities.

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St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador: North Atlantic Powerhouse

ArticleSeptember 24, 2025

"When we see and hear resiliency, we think Newfoundland and Labrador because as a population, as a province, we've had to be resilient over the last couple of decades."

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Lansing, Michigan: Understand Your Moment

ArticleSeptember 22, 2025

LEAP's Bob Tresize on how Lansing's unique local characteristics create local economic advantages and benefits. Plus: Innovation--the game in which everything is at stake, and everyone is playing.

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We Don't Give Proto-Entrepreneurs Enough Credit.

ArticleSeptember 19, 2025

Plus: 800 words on why I'm shifting The Groundbreakers to a video-first publication.

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Let's Talk: Tariffs, Trade Wars and Local Innovation Countermeasures.

ArticleApril 23, 2025

Economic uncertainty is the enemy of prosperity. Let's talk about how to manage it.

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No, You Can't Tariff Your Way to the Promised Land.

ArticleApril 3, 2025

Tariffs erode American economic and innovation leadership while helping adversaries. || Two reasons the Trump tariffs are vastly worse than imagined. || There are FAR better ways to compete and win.

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Listen Now | Strategic Localization: The Power of Differentiation in Lethbridge's Economic Development

PodcastMay 9, 2024

TGB Audio | Southern Alberta's economic hub is building a distinct innovation ecosystem based on the region's unique characteristics and investment in social entrepreneurialism.

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Redefining The Art of the Possible: Research and Innovation at McMaster University

ArticleMay 7, 2024

Driven by the imperative to shift from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy, a partnership-based, multi-sector innovation ecosystem establishes itself in Hamilton, Ontario.

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The Groundbreakers Audio

PodcastApril 15, 2024

Innovation ecosystems might be the most important construct in the innovation space.

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Made In Malawi (audio version)

PodcastApril 15, 2024

Podcast: Malawi University of Science and Technology is emerging as an innovation wellspring, vaulting a nation of determined, talented people into the knowledge economy.

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Made In Malawi

ArticleApril 4, 2024

Malawi University of Science and Technology is emerging as an innovation wellspring, vaulting a nation of determined, talented people into the knowledge economy.

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From Zero to a Billion In 10 Years

ArticleJanuary 17, 2024

Nebraska taps into its culture of innovation, venture capital floods in.

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A Short Flight to a Bright Future: Kingston’s Economic Strategy In Action

ArticleDecember 12, 2023

The Kingston-Syracuse Pathway signals the emergence of a new economic corridor, extending the city's integrated economic plan into new territory.

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RS: The New Paradigm of Economic Complexity

ResearchNovember 17, 2023

“Specialization and diversification are, in fact, two aspects of the same phenomenon seen from two different scales. If individuals specialize, firms, cities, and countries diversify.”

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