The Ecosystem Show

The Ecosystem Show is a weekly audio world tour exploring entrepreneurial ecosystems around the globe. Open innovation depends on a thriving ecosystem, and we’re here to show you what that looks like in some very different places! Each week, guided by a small group of local stakeholders, we investigate the history, current state, superpowers and challenges of a specific region.

Diana Joseph, Silicon Valley Innovation Consultant and CEO of the Corporate Accelerator Forum, ground zero for open innovation AND Mikel Mangold of NGK Venture Labs, based in Germany.

How did we get here? We wrote a paper on entrepreneurial ecosystems with Susan Windham-Bannister, leader of the 1B fund behind the development of the famous life sciences hub in Boston. Sue’s story made us curious about other ecosystems and sent us out to explore the world!

Drop us a line on linkedin or contact us on corporaceacceleratorforum.com to give feedback or tell us where we should visit next!

This series is sponsored by the Corporate Accelerator Forum - delivering the tools, practices, cases and relationships that corporates need to succeed in open innovation

Episode 1: Los Angeles

Episode 2: New York

Episode 3: Berlin

Episode 4: Krakow

Episode 5: Chile

Episode 6: Iraq

Episode 7: Bahrain

Episode 8: London

Episode 9: Bulgaria

Episode 10: Tanzania

Episode 11: Tel Aviv

Coming soon: Pittsburgh, Prague, Ukraine and more!

All Episodes

The Ecosystem Show

The Ecosystem Show: Iraq

August 26, 2021 • Diana Joseph and Mikel Mangold • Season 1 • Episode 6

We visited Iraq on June 7, 2021, with Alice Bosley and Patricia Letayf. They are the leaders of Five One Labs, a startup incubator in Iraq, located in Kurdistan.

We feel really lucky to have found out about Five One — that never would have happened without the innovation and change author Greg Satell who introduced us to these amazing leaders.

One big idea we took away — there’s real power in founders in or from regions affected by conflict — often we’re talking about talented, highly educated experts who are hungry for entrepreneurship because there are few exciting jobs waiting for them.