Resilience now guides Australian economic and industrial policy. This Innovation Insight draws on evidence from 109 innovation ecosystems across 35 countries to show that resilience is a designable property of innovation and industrial ecosystems, built through anchors, governance, ownership and infrastructure. It closes with an agenda for the new National Science and Resilience Council.

The Great Western Royal Hotel, now the Hilton London Paddington, opened in 1854 as part of Brunel's plan for a single journey linking hotel, railway and steamship. The building illustrates the complementarity principle in two dimensions. Functional complements build capability and performance. Reputational complements, or conferral, build credibility and attraction. Australian precinct policy attends closely to the first and much less to the second. Lasting advantage appears

Innovation precinct strategies routinely promise "chance encounters" and "spontaneous collaboration" as if bringing talented people together in well-designed spaces automatically produces productive connections. The evidence is weak. Many precincts deliver proximity without interaction. Tenants occupy adjacent floors for years without substantive engagement. Shared amenities become places where people check phones rather than start conversations. My latest Innovation Insight

This article reviews The Handbook of Innovation Ecosystems , detailing its "four-domain convergence framework" . It argues that successful ecosystems are not accidental but require the deliberate, long-term integration of Placemaking, Economics, Business, and Governance . It provides a practical guide for policymakers and practitioners to move beyond rhetoric and build durable, inclusive innovation capacity .

Policymakers, business strategists, innovation professionals, and researchers are increasingly being asked to invest in, create, or replicate innovation ecosystems. Until now, a clear framework for understanding what ecosystems are, how they function, and what enables their success has been largely missing, particularly in Australia. The Handbook of Innovation Ecosystems: Placemaking, Economics, Business, and Governance, just published by the Acton Institute for Innovation,