The Ecosystem Economy

Introduction: The Age of Ecosystems: Taking Stock of a Transformation in Progress

The future has never seemed more exciting or more confusing. When we look outside today, we are confronted with a multitude of exhilarating, sometimes vexing, and vitally important trends unfolding in the realms of culture, business, and technology. For the uninitiated, it all might seem overwhelming: cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, Web 3.0, quantum computing, automated cars, the internet of things, smart homes, and biomedical miracles. The list goes on and on. What it adds up to is a kaleidoscope of overlapping, cataclysmic changes all happening at once, each of which carries the potential to transform the world—and each of which is probably complex enough in its own right to spend a whole book contemplating.

However, if we take a deeper look—if we cut through the noise—we can see something else. On closer examination, almost all of these dizzying developments unfolding in the world today are related to another phenomenon altogether. The phenomenon is this: the borders between the traditional sectors of our economy are fading away. We're used to thinking about the economy in terms of sectors like construction, real estate, information technology, automotive manufacturing, energy, financial services, and health care—to name just a few. We've always understood these sectors to be discrete categories, and each has traditionally operated in its own sphere. But now, the economy is changing ...