Structure and Outlook of Digital Ecosystems Research

In this talk I will attempt to give an overview of the emerging field of Digital Ecosystems research. I will outline some of the significant events and conceptual turning points of the past few years, the current activities, and the future challenges. In all cases my comments will be divided into two parts: the first part focuses on digital ecosystems as an Open Source technology inspired by biological ecosystems; the second part extends the meaning of the term to encompass the people and the companies that populate DEs, and the collaborative/ communicative processes by which new business and economic models are being forged. Keeping these two perspectives distinct and faithful to their respective philosophical traditions has enabled us to begin to understand how the process of formalisation of knowledge can couple constructively the behaviour of the very different kinds of actors inhabiting these two interacting epistemological spaces. Meanwhile, Digital Ecosystems are emerging in different parts of the world, in different socio-economic and cultural contexts, and can already provide a broad range of case studies for sustainable development. The talk will conclude with an overview of the interesting initiatives taking shape within and across the growing world-wide network of digital ecosystems.