This visualization illustrates the UNDP Accelerator Labs Network of Ecosystems, with 5+ years of data on the connections and coallitions formed by Accelerator Labs in over 100 countries—from grassroots innovators to academia, to governments (the "ecosystems" layer)—and the interactions between labs through informal WhatsApp groups, where they shared questions, their experiences, contextual and situational information, practical tips, etc.—as well as more basic but deep camaraderie (the "network" layer).
All the way back in 2020, the MIT Sloan Management Review coined this idea of a network of ecosystems to define the UNDP Accelerator Labs Network, which at the time was the largest and fastest learning network on sustainable development priorities and challenges.
UNDP has [created] a large network of ecosystems that revolve around its labs, and building connections with local partners while also helping the labs coordinate with one another. Altman E. J., Nagle F., MIT Sloan Management Review, 2020
This visualization intends to honor the work of the Accelerator Labs and their legacy.
Documentation
The "ecosystem" layer displayed in the graphic above shows data on the partnerships that 91 UNDP Accelerator Labs established in 115 countries over 5 years. The data are extracted from the reflective documentation on innovation in sustainable development practice available in the SDG Commons (under "What we Test"). The semi-automated methodology for extracting the names of partners is documented here.
You can download the data from the side panel on the right.
Data License
The Accelerator Labs Network of Ecosystems data and code are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.
Get the data
Only the data on the "ecosystems" layer are released here. They are provided in two versions, both in two formats. The first version is a simplified graph of all partnerships between Accelerator Labs and external parties. This is the default data in the "global" view. The second version is a more complex graph that also includes connections between external parties. This is the default data in "country" views. Both datasets are available in .xlsx and .json formats.