The genius of ChatGPT is that given the right prompt it produces powerful replies in varying formats: content, data, code, imagery or video. What’s not genius is that, despite having hoovered up the entire internet, there’s still a big trust issue. Large Language Models (LLMs) hallucinate, have cultural biases and return disinformation.

Innovation relies on bringing together diverse ideas and stakeholders. Finding innovative solutions to complex problems – whether for social, environmental, or whole-sector challenges – requires even larger networks to collaborate at scale. An entire ecosystem. That’s why at Shapeable we think of our tech as an emerging category of 'Ecosystem as a Service' (EaaS).

Professor Mariana Mazzucato is ‘on tour’. Here in Australia, the joke that she is the follow-on from Taylor Swift suggests that she has a fan base. And she does. Shapeable is among them. This ‘rockstar’ economist is one of the most important public intellectuals in a world so broken and divided that it needs clearer-sighted leadership at a governmental level to find its way into a new era.

Surprising as it may seem, there are 25 countries in the world where attempting suicide remains a crime and a further 27 where the legal framework regarding attempted suicide remains unclear.

As we approach the year's end, Scott David, Travis Hensgen, Adrian Shawcross, and Sheridan Jobbins want to share the exhilaration (and sometimes terror!) of Shapeable's remarkable growth this year. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for all the continued partnerships both internal and external. Thank you, Peter Schiffler and Gerard Doolin, for continuing to keep us on track financially and legally in this rapidly evolving sector. Karmen King joined us as Content Producer a year ago and made herself instantly indispensable by understanding a growing startup's creative, technical and logistical requirements, and keeping the content and data flowing for all customers. Jack Dyball, Software Developer, and Dinuka Piyadigama, Software Engineer, added to Travis Hensgen’s technical team. This year they have expanded our modular offerings to include: Multiple microsites in multiple languages that allow private collaboration within specific groups, countries or knowledge sectors Impact metric dashboards powered by our knowledge engine to track and measure the progress of global and country-specific movements. Integrated ChatGPT and GenerativeAI into our platforms, to give each customer an AI that answers using their own aggregated knowledge, and outputs the answers as templated reports, industry and executive briefings, and in multiple languages. Improved the data visualisations for our knowledge and innovation microsites, to make the industry knowledge more accessible and explorable. To help deliver these offerings to our growing customer base Vadim Vichniakov brings his skills as a User Experience Architect and Jo Rugman as a Creative Artworker. In 2023 the team has been able to support remarkable initiatives and measure more real-world change from customers such as these: For the third consecutive year, Shapeable produced the GESDA - Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator Science Breakthrough Radar, redefining how core knowledge around innovations is structured and made available for the benefit of the Science Diplomacy sector, at their annual Summit and digitally. Our involvement with LifeLine International's initiative to combat and prevent suicide globally has been a profound and humbling experience. The opportunity to deliver a central platform and 25 country micro-sites aimed at suicide decriminalisation worldwide has been a powerful collaborative effort with other change-makers such as The Content Engine, Decade of Action and Topham Guerin. We are immensely proud to have developed a global mapping tool for the Kelp Forest Alliance to help them measure their progress in protecting and restoring 4 million hectares of kelp forests by 2040. Aaron Eger has transformed his PhD thesis into a global community of scientists dedicated to safeguarding natural kelp forests. Congratulations on delivering this work to the International Oceanographic Commission - UNESCO General Assembly in Geneva and launching the Kelp Forest Alliance's roadmap at COP28 in Dubai. CollaborateOre is steering the mining and metals industry towards net zero, uniting stakeholders to adopt innovations and develop responsible practices. Shapeable is building a platform to facilitate resource sharing and accelerate research towards informed decision-making and sustainable development goals. Partnering with Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week - ADSW, SWIFT Partners Sàrl and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company), Shapeable developed the Net Zero Navigator - an interactive AI-driven platform unveiled at COP28 UAE. This groundbreaking tool aims to catalyse collective action and foster collaboration for achieving net-zero goals by 2050. Based in Switzerland, The Villars Institute is rooted in systemic change and interdisciplinary collaboration. Shapeable is an ongoing partner, providing their digital platform, knowledge and event management and impact measurement, to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy through intergenerational mentorship. International Bridges to Justice expanded its JusticeHub, an online platform connecting global justice defenders and resources towards ending torture worldwide. They added 20 new working groups to strengthen their pursuit of UN Sustainable Development Goal 16. Biophilic Cities continued their endeavour to create natureful urban environments. The collaboration with Shapeable helps them to foster a global network committed to promoting health, equity, and resilience through biophilic planning. Shapeable’s expertise has benefited innovative insurance startup incubator, Rhodian Group. They continue to grow a business ecosystem for insurance entrepreneurs. Their platform centralises the multi-websites of the network and prepares them for inter-connected growth and collaboration. Stephen Johnston's pivotal role in advocating for innovation for the world's ageing population resonated across diverse sectors. His commitment to global initiatives aligns seamlessly with Shapeable's ethos of fostering positive change. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without our partners' unwavering support and collaboration. Their trust, insight and shared vision have been invaluable, and we are deeply grateful for the opportunity to grow together. As the holiday season unfolds, may it bring you joy, peace, and togetherness with your loved ones. We eagerly anticipate the promising opportunities the upcoming year holds and look forward to continuing our journey of growth and success together. Get in touch here to see how we can shape your challenges and develop a collaborative ecosystem fit for you. Warmest wishes for a joyful holiday season and a prosperous New Year ahead!

It has been an eventful and positive COP28 UAE meeting so far, with many announcements that give momentum to the energy transition, commitments to low income countries, climate finance, and other sustainability systems that include Food & Agriculture, Oceans, Forests, Health, and socio-economic development - all of which we are tackling with ADSW.

Dr Aaron Eger is a dedicated marine scientist and Founder and Program Director of the Kelp Forest Alliance, a global community of practice and research-driven not-for-profit. Shapeable was introduced to Aaron in 2019 by Professor Adriana Vergés, his PhD supervisor at the University of New South Wales. Together we worked to create the Kelp Forest Alliance’s data and community platform. In this global hub, marine scientists and anyone working on kelp forests worldwide can cross-reference and track different restoration techniques while analysing project efficacy, comparing data and results, and seeing the aggregate impact of the whole community. The Kelp Forest Alliance connects the global community of scientists, artists, policy makers, community groups,and businesses In his (2023) PhD thesis chapter on *"Global Kelp Forest Restoration: Past Lessons, Present Status, and Future Directions,"* Aaron delved into the rich history of kelp restoration, analysing an impressive dataset of 259 documented attempts spanning 60 years across 16 countries, various user groups, and multiple languages. This research and data set became the foundation for the platform, its scientific citations, members, and geo-mapping. Scott wanted the video inserted here, but I couldn’t work out how to do it: so I’ve added the final cut to the shared Dropbox ShpContent>Newsletter>Interview Assets>02-Aaron Eger file I grew up on the west coast of Canada, which is about 50 degrees north on the Pacific Northwest. That was my marine home. When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in the world, my mission to myself was somehow protecting that marine home and making sure that it would be able to sustain itself into the future. All that beauty and splendour I experienced as a child was already diminished from the beauty and splendour my mom experienced growing up in the same spot on the ocean - either trying to protect that or even make it better so future generations could have that. It became a question I'm trying to figure out, ‘How do I actually get there? What do I need to do to make that successful?’ We have kelp forests on over a third of our coastline. They are the largest biological marine ecosystem. They are essential systems for sustaining our coastal oceans and marine ecosystems. Yet despite their importance, they're also understudied. So that was my motivation - to make a difference for the oceans, and this exceptionally important ecosystem that is threatened, degraded and hasn’t received the attention it is due. As we set out on our research journey and eventually our organisational journey, we wanted to raise the profile of kelp forests and give people and organisations working in those systems the tools and resources they need to save them. It’s not unique what we’re doing. There is terrestrial conservation - rainforests, grasslands, arboreal forests - or coral reefs and mangroves in the ocean. As we started, we tried to fit what had been done in other ecosystems in kelp forests. Through one-on-one conversations with people working in these other ecosystems, we benefited from their learned experiences. Then we created a custom platform for working in kelp forests. It’s similar to other ecosystems, but there are also specific kelp elements that have been interesting to pull together. It’s still a learning journey. All the information we want to collect, how we collect it, how we organise and communicate it to people. It’s a large task. Guidebook and best practice The idea behind our guidebook was to bring together the best available information on planning and recording kelp forest restoration. With about 50 co-authors doing restoration, we gathered the best advice for restoration**.** In doing that, we also got to see what was missing. Especially as we tried to compare projects because one project would record one thing one way, and the other would do it another way. As we pulled that information together, we saw gaps in the data, and we were able to recommend new projects. A lot of the learning has been qualitative - just on how the information was collected. It’s hard to quantitatively analyse or assess kelp reforestation with numbers and find a mathematical suggestion on what to do. We need standardised impact metrics and standardised data columns to get that quantitative assessment. Information needs to be comparable across projects across the globe. To do that, we analysed what works best and now track and see how we’re doing. One key finding in early research was how far behind other ecosystems kelp is in terms of the area being restored. This has also pointed out how little area is protected for kelp forests. The Kelp Forest Alliance aims to increase both those numbers - the size of protected forests and the restored area. Measuring impact against global biodiversity pledges The idea behind creating pledges was to build a sense of community and commitment and create a movement for organisations doing restoration and conservation work for kelp forests. We want to highlight the excellent work being done, incentivise new projects and ultimately get governments to make really big binding pledges for tens or hundreds of thousands of hectares. The pledges are there to inspire and track the outcomes of that activity. Pledges can be area-based for protection or restoration. They can be monetary-based to fund activities. In-kind pledges might be from dive shops loaning boats or scuba gear or from aquaculture facilities donating seed stock. While we work towards protection and restoration, we're also working to increase awareness and understanding of kelp forests. So we have pledges for people doing art or marketing campaigns, for general teaching expertise, physical space, and professional services to assist and amplify kelp forests into general conversation. We’re contacting regional and federal politicians to get them to honour their ‘30 x 30’ commitments which was a call to protect 30% of habitats (marine and terrestrial) by 2030 and restore 30% of degraded habitats by that same year. We want to make sure kelp is getting its fair look. It often happens in the marine realm that protected areas are just drawn over - large patches of relatively open ocean which don’t have a whole lot of biodiversity or activity. Kelp forests need sunlight. They live right next to the coast in the first metres of depth. There’s a whole bustle of human activity in that zone, so it’s harder to create restored and protected areas because of competing interests. We want to ensure that the kelp forests and their ecosystems are adequately managed and that large open patches of empty ocean are not included in meeting international targets. The value of kelp Some people want to restore, protect and save kelp because they love it. Some want to do it because they interact with it. Some people want the votes, and some support us because it makes financial sense. Dollars are a graspable unit. It's helpful to express that in dollars to give kelp forests an easy to understand value. Work that we started doing three or four years ago was published recently in Nature Magazine. As a primary producer, kelp has minimal requirements for growth. In the right water temperature, with the right nutrients, and the right amount of sunlight, it just grows. It doesn’t need fertilisers or insecticides, or any extra additives. In this way it’s more beneficial than other food, pharmaceuticals or industrial materials. The International Seaweed Symposium was held in Hobart in February 2023. It was the world’s largest international gathering of seaweed scientists, industry experts, and people working on policies related to seaweed. We took the opportunity to launch our latest initiative, The Kelp Forest Challenge. We hosted a series of online and in-person workshops that ended with a global call to protect and restore four million hectares of kelp forests. We also used the conference to announce our initial pledges, including Korea, Washington State, and the Portuguese municipality. We had 22 pledges across eight countries, about 40,000 hectares of area for kelp forest restoration. Since then, we’ve collected eight more from groups doing different activities around the world. We continue to reach out to not-for-profits in Australia, California, and Canada. Artists, tech companies, and marketing campaign managers have all pledged to help kelp. Working with Shapeable Having the early connection to Shapeable helped us accelerate the idea of creating a global community with access to information, consolidating that information and making it accessible and user-friendly. The platform has enabled us to build our community efficiently. I think we're up to about 530 people in the network, and about 150 people have created community accounts on the platform. I'm really happy with how that has turned out and how it’s developing. We’ve received a lot of positive comments from the people using the platform and the website on how it looks and interacts. It’s been a lovely relationship so far.

TL;DR Communicating in networks using online group chat, on social media or in a business context, has become utterly normal, familiar, and accelerated during the pandemic. Community platforms mostly follow the same group chat paradigm of social or business networks, possibly due to their familiarity. So they can fall short of meaningfully turning talk into action. Cross-sector, purpose-driven collaboration at scale is a different kind of problem to chat wall-based content-sharing. It requires an evolution of digital platforms to service this growing demand. Big tech has a range of new ideas, from Business Ecosystems to DAOs (Distributed Autonomous Organisations) to Generative AI (such as ChatGPT), but they are in their early days. Understanding knowledge architectures, complexity, human dynamics, incentives and processes, and converting that into software and consulting, is at the core of this next wave of platform evolution. We all know group chat The last few years have seen social networks, enabled by digital platforms, shifting dramatically… in demographic profile, content format and even political persuasion. At the same time, the idea of networks and group chat has solidified as a standard way of communicating and doing business, pushed to a new level by the COVID19 pandemic and Zoom. Inevitably, because conversation at scale has become so normal, we’re seeing an increase in communities using platforms for purpose-driven collaboration. People want to participate in meaningful activity, and the world is a bit of a mess and needs fixing. So it’s a small step to use Slack to manage a community… instead of it just being used for software developers. And it’s quick to get chatting on Mighty Networks or Discord or Circle or Hivebrite or Facebook Groups, which have better group management, events features, and simple interfaces. The ‘group chat’ paradigm is currently prevalent. Solving cross-sector problems But what happens when the chat settles, and the best ideas and content are lost deep in the threads? And what if you need to collaborate at a whole-industry level, or partner to address the Sustainable Development Goals, or bring multi-disciplinary and cross-sector groups together to work on systemic problems? These are very different kinds of problems to informal chat threads and exchanging files. So, as the 2020’s progress, at Shapeable we’re expecting to see more platforms and networks breaking out of the chat paradigm and progressing towards the ‘collaborative action’ paradigm. That’s not just because our customers are doing that with us… it’s that the pieces of that future are here to be seen. Something is in the air. Enter big money, big tech, and big ideas Within the big tech and venture capital world it’s obvious that big ideas lead to the next unicorn company. And big ideas are innovation opportunities for the CEOs who attend Davos. We’re seeing many patterns coming together in this collaborative trend. They include, in no order of priority: Self-organising talent. Smart contracts will create new types of companies as DAOs - Distributed Autonomous Organizations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, successful DAOs have talented teams. It’s the people not the blockchain. Yet, one day, the processes, practices, voting on what to do, and incentive mechanisms will become a platform protocol at scale, beyond the hype. dApps and decentralised ownership. It’s unlikely that the Web3 ideal of a fully decentralised web will materialise, complete with users owning their own data in their own vault. But progress will be made, and there will be Web3 platform corporates and well-funded startups. Marc Andreesen’s A16Z and Tim Berners Lee’s Inrupt (no Blockchain required) are just a couple of the key players. Collective Intelligence. It’s not just the wisdom of the crowd. Humans and machines will augment each other, at scale. Whilst the concept started at MIT, it will change how we think about actionable knowledge infrastructure and the future of work. Business ecosystems. New forms of value creation and collaborative inter-dependency are underway, to rethink the company as a network, not just as a supply chain. Generative AI. Whilst ChatGPT seems like magic, this kind of augmentation of human understanding and communication has only just begun. VCs are suggesting that startups get busy to build Generative AI into their products. Narrative Markets. Through Social Media we’re now used to campaigns, movements, missions, political persuasion, disinformation, or business trends at a global scale. At Shapeable we think of them as Narrative Markets… the competition for the real estate of ideas. Examples include Mariana Mazzucato pushing for UK industry-wide missions that move markets, data-driven behavioural economics coming out of the Kahneman school of judgement and decision-making, and P&G repositioning shame into intimacy for age care. Collaboration Jobs. It’s not a coincidence that we’ve seen the arrival of a new C-suite role, the Chief Community Officer and others related to network analytics. Creator Economy. Although opinion is now everywhere, and expertise is somewhat harder to spot, it’s undeniable that microlearning is here to stay, and niche educators will increasingly be in demand to help networks of collaborators to flourish. The Heterarchy. There’s a movement away from siloed information and hierarchical control to a heterarchy of shared leadership with centralised knowledge. The multi-stakeholder thesis popularised by the World Economic Forum is now commonplace, but it’s starting to take on a decentralised flavour. Collaboration is the New Competition The idea of zero-sum competition that has been prevalent for 40 years, and which has led to large-scale inequalities, seems to be entering a phase change. Competition increasingly seems to require collaboration, possibly changing its nature. Problem solving via multiple perspectives, distributed innovation, resource sharing, and time-to-market, all require a network… or business ecosystem with orchestration strategy. A key truth is that maintaining the momentum of collaboration is really hard. That includes coordinating incentives, sharing knowledge and best practices, defining what to do and how, building in governance, measuring impact, and addressing ownership and credit for the outcomes. Beyond that, the complexity of aligning people with each other and compensating for their shortfalls are usually amongst the problems yet to be solved. As this movement towards collaborative platforms makes progress, it’s good to see leading figures like Melinda French Gates at the forefront, advocating for new forms of collaborative action. Read more articles like this on our Shapeable Newsletter

By co-founding the global Aging 2.0 network of innovators and orchestrating the digital platform The Collective, Stephen Johnston became a well-known influencer of aging innovation.