A shared workspace can easily be a space of just furniture. Desks and chairs, perhaps a fancy coffee machine. That’s a superficial perspective, however. Innovation hubs in recent years have completely transformed the concept of space. They have turned it into a catalyst rather than a container. The mission is no longer a simple one of providing space for startups. The idea is to make luck.
The Death of the Garage Myth
It’s too long since we’ve made the story of the lone founder a myth. The image of the entrepreneur working in a garage, totally alone, persists. However, statistics have a different answer. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor indicates that entrepreneurs who are involved in a peer network are much more likely to make it through the critical first three years. Isolation kills ideas.
You need friction. You need arguments. A bump in the head is needed.
This is something innovation hubs recognize. Designed spaces in which isolation is difficult or even nonexistent. Narrow hallways and community kitchens, open lounges force interaction. It’s a type of social engineering. You could stroll in to get a cup of joe and stroll out with a new understanding of your offering chain. There is quiet in the garage. The hub is loud. And that sound is that of progress.
The Architecture of Serendipity
What are your plans for an accident? It may seem counterintuitive. Successful innovation hubs, however, do just that. They create an architecture of serendipity. This is not a thing to have a ping pong table. The idea is to create “collision points”: people from different disciplines have to meet.
Visualize a typical modern hub. Software developer and fashion designer sitting beside each other. Researchers and marketing experts sit at a table in a lab. This is not a coincidence, but a curation. The hub managers actively choose members to make sure there is diversity in skills.
A three-month impasse can be resolved with an unauthorized chat over lunch.
This is the value proposition of the core and the main business idea. It’s impossible to guess which one of those links will lead to the next big idea. However, you make chance encounters more numerous, thus the odds are greatly raised. The odds of making a break are on your side. The hub turns into a device for producing serendipity.
The Digital Layer of the Physical Space
But physical space has its limits. Only one person is allowed in one room at one time. Even the most progressive hubs are now starting to integrate the virtual with the physical and extend the reach of their community. The question that they are asking is very important: what happens when the doors close at night? The partnership doesn’t end.
This is where communication technology is the lifeblood of the ecosystem. This is present in the hybrid events. People in Berlin host a pitch night and it is livestreamed to a partner hub in Nairobi. A Silicon Valley mentor offers virtual office hours in Lisbon. The actual wall breaks down. The community flows.
The associated tools that enable this seamless connection are as significant as the desks they are paired with. Tools that enable smooth and instant video connection without hassle are essential. A team, for example, could leverage a service such as CallMeChat live sessions to connect a local mentor with a distant investor, so that the conversation is felt as face-to-face. It’s about keeping the intimacy of a face-to-face encounter, even across continents. Shared purpose and connection across the reliable divide is the strongest community.
Mentorship Without the Friction
The old style was an intimidating, formal process for receiving counsel from an experienced executive. We needed to introduce ourselves. Lunch was to be arranged several weeks ahead of time. The hierarchy has been leveled off by innovation hubs. They put mentors right at their fingertips. The fear of asking a “stupid question” has been significantly reduced.
A word of advice from an old-timer founding member in the hallway can make or break a new startup.
This mentoring is usually more effective and valuable than formal mentoring programs. The ones that flourish are the communities that create a spirit of giving. They ask veterans to give back, not as a favor, but as an integral part of the eco-system. The wisdom isn’t confined to a board room, it is in the air and there is no need to be curious in order to seek it.
The Economic Ripple Effect
The contributions of these hubs go beyond the individual startups that they host. The impact is relatively large on the local economy. A Global Coworking Survey reported that around 2 to 3 additional jobs are generated in the vicinity as a result of the creation of a job within the coworking space. Benefits to restaurants, dry cleaners, housing markets.
An anchor institution is a thriving hub. It draws in talent to a city.
This talent is a talent that can remain if the individual startups fail. Smart people gather together in the same location and create a gravitational pull. It makes it difficult to get away. The hub becomes a talent pool for larger companies, and a launching pad for new ventures. The community is reinforced as the chances of failure are reduced due to the availability of opportunities. When one door is closed, there’s another one right down the hall.
The Future is Fluid
So what comes next? It’s clear that the shape of work is fluid. It’s not only about working at home, or at the office. It involves working from a network. Innovation hubs are emerging as the centres of control for this new condition. They are the physical foundation for a distributed and global workforce.
The spaces that will be in the next 10 years are the ones that agree that they are not in the real estate business. They are in the relationship business. The desks are nothing but an excuse. The real product is the community, the rich network of connections which makes entrepreneurship a team game. These days, the days of the lone individual founder are behind us. The days of robust communities are here.
