The toolkit has been designed for flexible use. Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem building happens in multiple contexts and through both individual and collective activities. Many of the resources can be used in multiple contexts. Here are some sample scenarios:
For individuals who are working in ecosystem building, reviewing background and context of ecosystem building themes and stages can provide a grounding that helps illuminate the key topics. The conversation guides can be used as scaffolds to begin thinking about the discussions that are necessary to start ecosystem building—some find that it’s useful to use them as a ‘self-study tool’ answering the questions prompts themselves before working with them with others. Individuals may also want to bookmark specific topics that are relevant in their contexts as well as participate in the community.
Organizational use is likely the most typical scenario, and in this case, we expect that specific topics and related tools will become the basis for strategic work of a group of stakeholders at a higher institution. They will work with the conversation guide and other resources and build this into a plan for creating the interactions with existing and potential ecosystem partners. The conversation guides were designed with this kind of work in mind: they lay a framework for doing the work of ecosystem building that is specifically tuned to the needs and contexts of higher education.
Professional development use cases are also feasible. The level of knowledge and buy-in about equitable ecosystem development often varies within institutions. As ecosystem builders begin their work at a college or university, it’s possible that they will want to provide an “ecosystem building 101” educational experience for their colleagues. Many of the tools will be useful for this, and we encourage you to shape the resources into the forms that best serve your needs.
