Startup Commons

  • Startup Commons
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Our Customers
    • Services And Pricing
    • Our Business Model
    • Our Digital Solutions
    • Our History
    • Contact Us
    • Partner With Us
    • Request For Speakers
    • Job Opportunities
    • International Internships
  • Business Creators
    • About Business Creators
    • Creating Businesses
    • What Is A Startup
    • Startup Development Phases
    • Growth Academy Elearning Platform
    • Founders Shareholders' Agreement and Team Building Online Training
  • Support Providers
    • About Support Providers
    • Learn About Startup Ecosystem
    • Startup Development Phases
    • Providing Support Functions
    • Innovation Entrepreneurship Education
    • Innovation Entrepreneurship Curriculum
    • Growth Academy eLearning Platform
    • Certified Trainers
    • Become Growth Academy Provider In Your Ecosystem
    • Growth Academy Training On-Site By Startup Commons
  • Ecosystem Development
    • About Ecosystem Developers
    • What Is Startup Ecosystem
    • Ecosystem Development
    • Ecosystem Development Academy eLearning Platform
    • Subscribe to Support Membership
    • Ecosystem Operators
    • Development Funding
    • For Development Financiers
    • Startup Ecosystem Maturity
    • Case Studies
    • Submit Marketplace App Challenge
    • Become Ecosystem Operator
  • Digital Transformation
    • Digital Transformation
    • Ecosystem Operators
    • Apply To Become Ecosystem Operator
    • Applications Partnership
    • Ecosystem OS
    • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
    • Digital Ecosystem Applications
    • App Developers
  • Contact Us
  • Startup Commons
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Our Customers
    • Services And Pricing
    • Our Business Model
    • Our Digital Solutions
    • Our History
    • Contact Us
    • Partner With Us
    • Request For Speakers
    • Job Opportunities
    • International Internships
  • Business Creators
    • About Business Creators
    • Creating Businesses
    • What Is A Startup
    • Startup Development Phases
    • Growth Academy Elearning Platform
    • Founders Shareholders' Agreement and Team Building Online Training
  • Support Providers
    • About Support Providers
    • Learn About Startup Ecosystem
    • Startup Development Phases
    • Providing Support Functions
    • Innovation Entrepreneurship Education
    • Innovation Entrepreneurship Curriculum
    • Growth Academy eLearning Platform
    • Certified Trainers
    • Become Growth Academy Provider In Your Ecosystem
    • Growth Academy Training On-Site By Startup Commons
  • Ecosystem Development
    • About Ecosystem Developers
    • What Is Startup Ecosystem
    • Ecosystem Development
    • Ecosystem Development Academy eLearning Platform
    • Subscribe to Support Membership
    • Ecosystem Operators
    • Development Funding
    • For Development Financiers
    • Startup Ecosystem Maturity
    • Case Studies
    • Submit Marketplace App Challenge
    • Become Ecosystem Operator
  • Digital Transformation
    • Digital Transformation
    • Ecosystem Operators
    • Apply To Become Ecosystem Operator
    • Applications Partnership
    • Ecosystem OS
    • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
    • Digital Ecosystem Applications
    • App Developers
  • Contact Us

What Can Martin Luther King Jr. Teach Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Developers?

15/1/2018

Comments

 
Picture
On March 31, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech at the National Cathedral, titled “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” He discussed a triple revolution that was taking place, consisting of three factors: technology, weaponry, and human rights. Does that sound familiar to our present situation?

Martin Luther King Jr.’s wisdom has valuable implications for today’s entrepreneurs and policy makers. Here are four key takeaways for entrepreneurship ecosystem developers from “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.”

Ethics need to keep pace with technological changes.

“Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood.” This statement from King’s speech resonates deeper in the modern era than it did in 1968. Internet, smart phones, and social media now link people around the world with constant communication. Furthermore, smart cities and govtech solutions are rapidly bringing regulators into the digital future. However, our ethics still need to keep pace with our increasing digital connectedness.

With so much digital information available, entrepreneurs and policy makers must make decisions about who controls and maintains responsibility for data. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an effort to give citizens control of their personal data. The Startup Commons team is happy to advise on GDPR compliance, and our Digital Ecosystem Applications are designed to give users control of their data, no matter where they are in the world.

Another challenge presented by technological change is intellectual property ownership. As startups increasingly drive innovation, traditional technology transfer models are becoming cumbersome and outdated. Startup Commons offers Open IPR consulting for universities and research institutions so that they can more effectively contribute to innovation.

Leaders create consensus.

"Sir, I’m sorry you don’t know me. I’m not a consensus leader,” King once told a newsman. He claimed in his speech that “ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.” If you are leading an entrepreneurship ecosystem, you will need to balance several competing viewpoints and opinions. Sometimes you will feel the need to take unpopular positions, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s stance against the war in Vietnam.

What do you do if you are a politician and the majority of your constituents fear losing their jobs to immigrants? Do you push for stricter immigration policy? What if your constituents do not understand that high-skilled immigrants actually create, rather than remove, jobs in your region’s economy? When you take a position on an important issue, it is sometimes best to create, rather than respond to, consensus.

Gain insight from interconnectedness.

During his speech, King made the point that “we are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Similar to our broader society, entrepreneurship ecosystems are inescapable networks of mutuality. They rely on the contributions of multiple players, ranging from startup employees to political leaders.

How do ecosystem developers make sense of these interconnected relationships? Startup Commons’ Digital Ecosystem Applications illustrate the interconnectedness of entrepreneurship ecosystems, enabling ecosystem developers to visualize and benchmark ecosystem activity. For example, our Ecosystem Mapping Application enables entrepreneurs and policy makers to see how support providers serve a startup’s needs at various phases of the startup’s development. By mapping out support-provider roles, we help entrepreneurs and grant makers navigate an otherwise complex, interconnected network.

The time to act is now.

Since “time is neutral,” King made the point that things do not automatically improve with time. He called on his audience to “realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” King’s wisdom holds true for economic development.

If you want to build an entrepreneurship ecosystem, then you should start now. Reach out to Startup Commons!

Comments
    Our Services
    Supporting startup ecosystem development, from entrepreneurship education, to consulting to digital infrastructure for connecting, measuring and international benchmarking.
    Picture
    ​Subscribe for updates
    Startup ecosystem development updates with news, tips and case studies from cities around the world. 
    Subscribe

    Join Us?

    Are you interested to join our global venture to help develop startup ecosystems around the world? 
    Learn more...
    ​

    Archives

    December 2023
    November 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    July 2013
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    Accelerator
    Africa
    Asia
    Australia
    Commitment
    Concepting
    Design
    Digital
    Ecosystem
    Establishing
    Europe
    Event
    Growth
    Incubator
    Infrastructure
    Innovation
    Investment
    Leadership
    Lean Startup
    Mentor
    North America
    Report
    Scaling
    Startups
    Team
    Validation
    Vietnam
    Vision

    RSS Feed

Startup ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
To Scale INNOVATION Entrepreneurship

Business
​Creators

What is a Startup?
Startup Development Phases
Business Creation
​
Growth Academy eLearning 

​​Support
​Providers

Supporting Startups
​
Startup Curriculum
​
From Technology Transfer to Open IPR
Support Providers
​Knowledge Center
​
Funding Sources
Growth Academy eLearning ​

​​Ecosystem
​Developers

What is Startup Ecosystem?
​From Innovation Ecosystems to Startup Ecosystems
Startup Ecosystem Development
Startup Ecosystem Maturity
Ecosystem Developers 
​
Development Funding 

Ecosystem Operators

About Ecosystem Operators
Funding Sources
​Digital Ecosystem Applications
EcosystemOS​


Picture
Subscribe to our mailing list
Entrepreneurship, innovation and startup ecosystem development updates, with news, tips and results from cities and organizations around the world.  #startupecosystem
Subscribe
Growth Academy eLearning | Resources | Blog
Join Us | Sharing Policy
Picture
Service by Digiole Oy
​© 2025 Digiole Oy some rights reserved