a world in balance

…an opportunity-laden “optimized and rationalized” system - benefitting all who want to benefit

BTW, the picture used to illustrate this article on the advantages of an “ecosystem (over a “community”), depicts the family card game (for Kids 10+ and Adults) - about animals, their habitats and biodiversity - named ECOSYSTEM – which can be bought for $17.99 through Amazon (? https://www.amazon.com/Genius-Games-GOT1010-Ecosystem/dp/B07XGD6XL2?th=1? ).

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In this article I explain and justify the reason I opted for “ecosystem” instead of “community” (the more common form of “grouping” of the two).

Basically, I opted for “ecosystem” because it is a powerful tool for fostering collaboration, sustainability and growth within a group.

An "ecosystem" is a dynamic, interconnected and mutually beneficial group – which encourages collaboration and diversity - and focuses on long-term sustainability.

When setting out to transform and repurpose Health Tourism, a core objective was to create an integrated entity that would bring the relevant stakeholders (industry, market and investors) together for the purpose of “interaction”.

The decision to opt for “ecosystem” was based on analysis of the meaning, nature and scope of each.

See note on “ecosystem” (as a concept and practice) and its advantages (over a “community”) – towards the end of this article.

BTW, after the event, I sought and found validation for this choice in what John G. Singer ( ?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/johngsinger/? ), who heads Blue Spoon Consulting, was doing for Diabetes (establishing the Integrated Economic Ecosystem for the Diabetes market).

the additional advantages of the Contemporary Health Tourism (ht8) Ecosystem

…optimized and rationalized to ensure long-term sustainability, evolution and growth

The ht8 Integrated Economic Ecosystem (ht8IEE) - of Stakeholders and sector-specific Legal Entities - has been designed as a “carnival of markets” - which operate as a single organism (? https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/carnival-markets-constantine-constantinides-m-d-ph-d--1c/? ).

ht8IEE is part of the Health Tourism “Big3” which includes the:

·???????? Integrated Economic Ecosystem - “a carnival of markets” which operate as a single organism - ?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/carnival-markets-constantine-constantinides-m-d-ph-d--1c/ ?

·???????? Transaction System - the Contemporary Health Tourism Economic Transaction System - for Buying, Selling and Investment - ?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/contemporary-health-tourism-economic-transaction-constantine/ ?

·???????? Metamarket - the Contemporary Health Tourism Economic Ecosystem "metamarket" - the bringing together of the supply side and the buy side - in 8 segments - ?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/bringing-together-supply-side-buy-constantinides-m-d-ph-d-/ ?

It is an “optimized and rationalized” system which is opportunity-laden – benefitting all who want to benefit.

ht8 (the ecosystem) is an EMVIO entity – designed to be constantly evolving and improving – encouraging and enabling organic economic growth.

ht8IEE can be thought of as a "community of communities".

I have come to realize that the ht8 Ecosystem is a “world in balance”.

“ecosystem” - as a concept and practice

…and its advantages over a “community”

In terms of scope, an ecosystem extends the community concept to encompass the various elements that influence and support the group.

An ecosystem is the entire neighborhood, including the houses, streets, parks, and everything else that affects how people live – and interact - there – whereas the term “community” refers only to the “people”.

If we use “gaming” as an example and analogy, the “game players” (a.k.a. gamers) are the “community” – whereas – the gamers + the game developers + the streaming platform + the gaming hardware – and even the culture and trends surrounding gaming – constitutes the “ecosystem”.

A “figurative” ecosystem, such as the Health Tourism “integrated economic ecosystem” captures the interconnectedness and interdependence within a group, similar to a natural ecosystem.

For example, in a startup ecosystem, the different businesses rely on each other's services.

In an integrated ecosystem, there exists a complex web of relationships and different elements (entities) which support each other.

In short, we refer to:

·???????? "community" when we simply want to describe a group with shared interests

·???????? "ecosystem" when we want to highlight the complex web of relationships and how different elements / entities interact and support each other

Features which characterize an ecosystem:

·???????? interconnectedness

·???????? interdependence

·???????? the actions and contributions of each member (participant / stakeholder) that ensure the sustainability of the “whole”

the advantages of a figurative “ecosystem" (as opposed to "community"):

• interdependence - everyone in the group relies on each other in some way
• encouragement and enablement of interaction and collaboration
• rewards diversity – and complementary attributes and skills
• focuses on sustainability - ecosystems are naturally self-regulating
• adaptability (see EMVIO entities) – ecosystems learn, evolve and respond to new challenges and changes
• encourages innovation and growth