Winter 2014, Volume 5, Number 1

Editorial:
Sustainable Development of Cognitive Science and Technology
Ecosystem; an Overview to the “Human Brain Project” as a
Functioning Sample

T
his editorial has the objective to do the 1.CST Principles
analogy between ecosystem distributing
and science developing for extracting ob- The interdisciplinary Cognitive Science and Tech-
jective measurement items in order to find nologies (CST) is targeted to explore the secrets of
out how cognitive science and technolo- brain, mind and human cognitive functions. Cogni-
gies (CST) can build added value for developing coun- tive technologies together with Nanotechnology,
try economy. Biotechnology and Information technology (NBIC)
as shown in figure 1, are established Convergent
Therefore, we are proposing natural ecosystem knowledge, which may result significant develop-
analogy in (CST) developing model. By means of ment in human life ability, social outcomes, and na-
this approach we are intrinsically being able to find tion’s productivity. Altogether enables us to promote
a measuring factors to reach healthy ecosystem. We wealth and welfare in countries. Accordingly, NBICs
are analyzing evidences from developing and business related subjects considered as an important concern
models based on our proposal and the human brain of national science and technology policy making in
project (HBP) as one of the main large-scale project of majority of developed countries and few developing
European Union in knowledge developing strategy is ones such as Iran.
mapped to our novel landscape.

Figure 1. left side: illustrating the fields that contributed to the birth of cognitive science, including linguistics, neuroscience,
artificial Intelligence, philosophy, anthropology, and psychology(Miller 2003). Right side: exhibits NBIC convergence

The main question is" how we can integrate, align neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligence, lin-
and promote CST as an interdisciplinary field?" it is guistics, anthropology, and philosophy of mind in a
necessary to have a Network of nation-wide Scien- developing country like Iran;
tistscollaborating from different domains including

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Winter 2014, Volume 5, Number 1

On the other hand, the big challenge is to connect ecosystems can be studied by evaluating the embodied
science, technology, innovation, economy and gov- network and connections. Large-scale research initia-
ernment. In order to find out a solution in this edito- tives can provide shared vision for their community.
rial, initially, science and technology ecosystem was Shared vision aligns full range of participants. It can
projected to define policies of the CST ecosystem encourage them to play more effective roles in their
management. CST improvement needs a web which cluster, wherein they can receive and share more value
is embodies association of scientists, students, re- streams. Appropriately in shared vision atmosphere,
searchers, clinicians, innovators, together with whom participants earn new capabilities, processes and struc-
is member of universities, institutions, clinics, hospi- tures to receive, produce and share related values of
tals, laboratories or enterprises. Furthermore it can be correspondence vision. This motivation behaves like
influenced by legislators, publishers, media, financers, facilitator and promotes impressive and robust streams
investors and service provider organizations. of value, across cluster. NIS approaches to the inno-
vation and technology and also recent models in the
2. Ecosystem as CST Development Strategy field of strategic management, led to interrelation
between network of participants that is called “Eco-
In considering of cognitive science as interdisciplin- system”, where firms coexist and establishes interde-
ary field that encompasses wide range of knowledge pendent and symbiotic relationships with a complex
from medical to engineering and philosophy, the struc- pattern(Moore 1997, Iyer, Lee et al. 2006). Ecosys-
ture becomes more complex. Better understanding of tems displace “value networks” concepts with “value
CST embodiment requires to be revealed in details of chain” of traditional linear models(Brandenburger and
network compartments and connections. Main models Nalebuff 1996). Ecosystems are vigorously important,
of science and technology development are demon- particularly in the Internet and social networks boom
strated through the following section, where incorpo- years, where service provider organizations encounter
rate with approaches and policies. Recently fundamen- with vast associated communities of companies with-
tal innovation concepts are redefined by contemporary out innovation and operation boundaries(Iansiti and
science and technology development studies. Tradi- Levien 2004). Consequently, frameworks are desired
tional Models often pursued linear approaches that fel- to figure out current position and modify strategies and
low science-push or market-pull strategies. The con- policies by circumstances.
straint of traditional push-pull models resulted in chain
of interactional concepts, combining with system ap- In natural ecosystems major species perform roles
proach led to born of National Innovation System of value creation and sharing the value both togeth-
(NIS)(Freeman 2002). Freeman denominated NIS as er which are so called keystone [4] as well as lead-
“the Network of institutions in the public and private ing organization in business ecosystems (Iansiti and
sectors whose activities and interactions initiate, im- Levien 2004). Keystone organizations can enhance
port, modify and diffuse new technologies”(Freeman the efficiency of ecosystems by well performing the
1987). On the other hand Lundvall exhibited NIS as: mentioned acts. Efficient ecosystems absorb and re-
“the elements and relationships which interact in the tain more participants (Iansiti and Levien 2004). We
production, diffusion and use of new, and economi- believe recognizing keystone organizations and their
cally useful knowledge either located within or rooted value networks in the regional, national or interna-
inside the borders of a nation state.”(Lundvall 2010). tional ecosystems is one of the major steps of CST de-
Aforementioned NIS explanations emphasize dynamic velopment strategy. But in the CST ecosystem, which
network of participants in countries level with variety participants can play the keystone role?
constructive relations to processes of education, re-
search and development, innovation, production and The platforms initiation is the main strategy
distribution(Freeman 1995). that keystone organization can peruse inside the
ecosystems(Iansiti and Levien 2004). Platforms can be
Policy makers can identify leverage points for en- physical or intellectual assets. Ecosystems have many
hancing innovating performance to optimize value participants (or sides) brought together by platform-
creation. Policies, which seek to improve networks mediated networks(Rochet and Tirole 2003).
ability and productivity among main actors, are most
useful and valuable. Also healthiness symptoms (pro-
ductivity [1], robustness [2] and niche creation [3]) of

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Figure 2. keystone organization and its collaborators has shown in the yellow circle (stack holders community) because of their
common vision for value creation, the keystone responsible to develop platforms due to make standard communication strate-
gies between ecosystem members to share the value. On the other hand platforms can perform a bridge role between different
ecosystems in order to niche creation.

3. Human Brain Project Case Study in ceiving fund from HBP or not. All these organizations
CST Ecosystem together demonstrate a consortium that plays the key-
stone role in whole CST ecosystem. HBP divided into
We try to establish the ecosystems concepts in Hu- thirteen sub-projects each one is governing by own
man Brain Project (HBP) blueprints by the purpose of leader and co-leader investigators who is member of
introducing sustainable development pattern in CST, participants institutes. The vision of the Human Brain
which outstanding approaches can manifest the poli- Project is to build a completely new information com-
cies in country level that. Each concept like keystone puting technology infrastructure for neuroscience and
organizations, value networks and platforms apply for brain-related research in medicine and computing,
important effects on policy-making strategies, which catalyzing a global collaborative effort to understand
described before. the human brain and its diseases and ultimately to
emulate its computational capabilities. This vision is
The Human Brain Project (HBP) -European large- given specific identity to the HBP consortium in CST
scale research initiative- funded in late 2013, whose ecosystem which expect to produce added value by in-
goal is to understand the human brain and develop new dividual actors.
treatment for brain disease and ultimately to simulate
brain-like intelligence to achieve energy-efficacy com- It is restated: “One of the major obstacles to under-
putational capabilities- and apply all these created val- stand the human brain is the fragmentation of brain
ues for desired CST ecosystem. research and the data it produces. Thus, the most ur-
gent need is a concentrated international effort that
The HBP network is grounded on various institutes, uses emerging ICT technologies to integrate this data
companies and several collaborators of different coun- in a unified picture of the brain as a single multi-level
tries Aligned organizations by means of HBP vision system”.
are engaged in considered ecosystem despite of re-

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Winter 2014, Volume 5, Number 1

In HBP, some of the main objectives are distributed work of interactive firms, or an “Ecosystem”(Gawer
to create platforms (European-Commission 2013). and Henderson 2007).
The HBP is developing six ICT platforms, dedicated
respectively to Neuroinformatics, Brain Simulation, Making policies for a complex ecosystem must align
High Performance Computing, Medical Informatics, on several main domains to create value(Iansiti and
Neuromorphic Computing and Neurorobotics. As it Levien 2004). It is helpful because each domain in one
was mentioned, platforms, as a keystone organization ecosystem has own characteristics, special mission,
strategy, catalyze and facilitate value creation by other goal and related value network. The HBP ecosystem
participants in the CST ecosystem. One of the main was built by connection of three main domains which
purposes of the platforms creation in HBP is to make include neuroscience, medicine and computing. It was
technology accessible to scientists. As it is restated: "In hard to imagine these domains brought together, until
the form of research platforms, they can be used for the HBP consortium as keystone grew this community
basic and clinical research, drug discovery and tech- in CST ecosystem and defined new identity. Each of
nology development" (European-Commission 2013). these domains has its own vision and interests. Their
These platforms are being built to facilitate collabora- values and structures were different. In ecosystem
tion of scientists and organizations. By this way, plat- context, they recognized themselves in the new atmo-
forms are required to be create and share value among sphere where the keystone organizations has built new
participants especially in interdisciplinary fields like structures and vision, and platforms facilitated their
CST(Rochet and Tirole 2003). It was suggested that value creation and collaborations.
many high-tech fields can be considered as “systems
of interdependent components, built around and on top The mentioned analogy is summarized in Table.1:
of platforms” and are often provided by a complex net-

Table 1. The analogy among natural, business and CST ecosystems

Cognitive Science And Technology coastal ecosystem of the

Business Ecosystem Software Ecosystem
(CST) Ecosystem Pacific Northwest

HBP Consortium Keystone Organization Microsoft Co. Key stone species (Jaguar)

HBP Structure (Relations among leaders Relations Among service

Value Networks Food chain
and co-leaders of sub-projects) Providers and users

ICT Platforms Platforms Windows Habitat

Principle Investigators Developers App developers species

Value Exclusivity IBM at 1985 Dominator species (Weed)

player aims to develop special-

research Innovators Niche species
ized capabilities
Software service
Partners and Collaborators Participant Organizations species
Provider organizations
Ecosystem initiates and
HBP initiates and maintains by
maintains by market Natural Mechanism
large-scale national initiatives
Mechanisms

Ecosystem approach provides applied context in stra- implementation(Iyer, Lee et al. 2006). Visualization
tegic assessment like network visualization and fore- helps researchers to recognize hidden information inside
sight across ecosystem, For instance the mapping of data and enables humans to overcome their cognitive
ecosystem by means of graphs, enables policy mak- limitation(Moore 1997). For example, we can visualize
ers to better analysis of alliances and relationships of relations among Principle Investigators (PI), institutes
participants(Basole and Karla 2011). This provides and platforms in HBP ecosystem shown in figure 3.
visual perception and insight into policy making and

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 Winter 2014, Volume 5, Number 1

Figure 3. Visualization of HBP analogy in CST ecosystem

On the other hand, one of the main objectives of HBP tate collaboration. These collaborations will increase
is to provide a foresight for the main trends. As they healthiness of CST ecosystem to ensure of its natural
declared: “The HBP foresight lab studies the views, at- life and development.
titudes and strategies of participant in CST ecosystem.
With methods from the empirical social sciences in- 4. Conclusion
volving interviews, focus groups and other assessment
methods”(European-Commission 2013). Analyzing We applied conceptual analogy method between natu-
multiple possible future realities is an important func- ral ecosystems with CST environment resulted in the-
tion of strategic foresight(Mojica 2010). oretical sustainable development framework of CST
which it is in agreement with “project management body
Accordance to analogy of business ecosystem “The of knowledge” (PMBOK) standard concepts.
HBP Competitive Calls Program will allow research-
ers from outside the HBP Consortium to propose re- PMBOK breaks any project to five distinguishable
search and applications development projects using the stages as initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and
HBP platforms and to receive funding from the HBP”. closing the project.
This approach encourages researchers for innovation
and acting new role in niches existing in the ecosys- Foremost Policy makers are illustrating the ambitious
tem. Then, ecosystem’s ability will be improved and its vision by means of a valid and up to date information
healthiness will increase. from current known ecosystems. Through the initiation
stage keystone (consortium) is demonstrated and intel-
Thereby, development of CST in the present compli- lectual property sharing with consortium participants are
cated world, like other domain of science and technol- being defined. It is following by planning stage in which
ogy, needs compatible approaches reflected not only large scale project will break down to sub domains and
in our articles, but also in our policies, strategies and small projects. Additional at this stage leaders of each
planning, where decision makers set priorities for bud- subproject is identified by resources such as collaborator
geting. By the ecosystem approach we discussed in this and participants are being specified based on assets and
article, priorities must be defined around formation of tasks. By the end of this phase we have time sheet to run
keystone consortiums and making platforms to facili- the project and measurable item to evaluate the project

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Winter 2014, Volume 5, Number 1

development. The parameters to evaluate the ecosystem End Notes

healthiness can generate continuous monitoring of pro-
ductivity, robustness and niche creation of ecosystem. In [1]. “Productivity” is the ability of transforming technologies
and raw materials of innovation into reducing price and new
executing stage the platforms are startup in order to fa- production which can be measured by return on invested capi-
cilitate the principles investigators. Monitoring must be tal.
done in both issues of project progress and ecosystem
[2]. “Robustness” is the potential of surviving disruption like
healthiness to define a feedbacks to optimize the execu- unpredictable technology change. It can be measured by
tive plan. Furthermore at monitoring stage the task based survival rates of ecosystem members, over the time or either
intellectual sharing will be evaluated again in order to in associate with comparable ecosystem(Iansiti and Levien
2004).
optimization. By achieving to golden goals or obtain
the finished products, the project will be finalized in a [3]. “Niche creation” is ability to attract the extrinsic shocks and
healthy ecosystem. exchange it to productive production. On the other hand in
business ecosystem context represents capacity of enhance
significant diversity as a consequence of valuable new func-
5. Open Questions tions or niche creation. It can be measured by inspecting at
the extent to what emerging technologies are actually being
applied as a variety of new business and product(Iansiti and
What is the developing criterion of interdisciplinary Levien 2004).
cognitive science and technologies (CST)? In Iran as
an example the most acceptable general idea is based on [4]. Modern business networks and biological ecosystems also
are characterized by the presence of crucial hubs that assume
the amount of papers index in high tech journals can the keystone function of regulating ecosystem health. Like
show the progress rate of that knowledge, such as CST keystones in business networks, sea otters represent only
and Nanotechnology, however we believe, this factor is a small part of the bio- mass of their community but exert
tremendous influence. Note, too, that, as in business ecosys-
not only appropriate measure assessment of developing tems, some individual members of the community suffer as
growth rate in any field but also it can provide wrong a result of the keystone’s behavior, but the community as a
illustration of real world which enhances the noise of whole benefits. The biological counterparts of the two other
primary roles we have identified in business ecosystems—
information system and results in non-healthy progress the dominator and the niche player—are more obvious. And
strategy, which it is tangible in high granted knowledge most species in nature, like most companies in the business
areas in last decays. world, are niche players, with a specialized function that
contributes to the functioning of their ecosystems. Inputs like
technology in business ecosystems are constantly changing.
Which infrastructure is required to obtain sustainable
development in CST? Which roles can be better perform
by governments and private sectors? What kind of pi-
lot study can help to find out urgent act in initiating and
planning stage? The flow of information how can moti- References
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