Industrial ecosystems and technological development

The paper proposes to consider industrial ecosystems in the context of technological development. Researches in this area require the application of an evolutionary economic methodology that uses the tools of evolutionary biology, in particular - the notion of an ecosystem. This methodology offers new approaches to solving economic problems that cannot be solved by the traditional economic mainstream, focused on the selfish rational behavior ofeconomic agents and analysis of equilibrium states. At the same time, it still remains debatable, fragmentary and needs further development.The concept of ecosystems in biology and economics is analyzed, and general characteristics of the latest economic researches, from standpoints of evolutionary methodology as a stable network of interconnected enterprises, based on corresponding manufacturing technologies, is presented. In this case, diverse by the degree of development industrial ecosystems correspond to different stages of technological development, between which there are technological gaps. It is justified that dominant technologies and relevant institutions are changing under the influence of geographic, historical, genetic and cultural factors, which determine the ability to survive, longevity and reproductive potential of ecosystems. It was established that, as in biology, industrial ecosystems can be of different levels: local ecosystems located in the same city, district or region; regional ecosystems, spanning individual regions; national ecosystems, that is, the systems across the states having sovereignty, national institutions and culture; supranational ecosystems that unite interconnected and interacting enterprises and institutions of neighboring countries or even continents.To characterize industrial ecosystems at the national level, indicators of the economic, industrial, and innovative development in the context of groups of relatively homogeneous countries have been examined. It was established that in the group of countries of the Western tradition the USA are still ahead of Europe: the innovative and organizational culture of American corporations is higher than that of EU competitors. According to given indicators, representatives of Confucian and Hindu cultures are also becoming contemporary leaders, routines of whose many enterprises have already undergone a natural selection and allow them to generate economically meaningful knowledge that contributes to their survival and further successful development. Unlike economic ecosystems of leading industrial countries, Ukrainian industrial ecosystems have failed to be preserved and inherit organizational routines and cultural capital that underpin high industrial technologies, which widens technological gaps between the domestic industry and the industry of developed countries.In order to accelerate the development of the industrial ecosystem of Ukraine and overcome its negative trends, it is proposed to make appropriate adjustments to the draft of Strategy of innovative development of Ukraine, aimed at creating high-level groups by key technologies; to define and periodically update the national list of key technologies; to raise the level of R&D funding; to stimulate private R&D funding.