Ilkka Kakko was acting as the Project Manager for Joensuu Science Park’s part in the project 2004-2008, first as a Manager at JSP but later 2007-08 finished the project based on commercial agreement between JSP and Karostech.  ECOLEAD was an ambitious 6th FramSaveework EU -research project (IP =Integrated Project) with the total budget of 15 M euros and 26 partners – universities, research units and industrial partners. JSP and especially its netWork Oasis department managed by Ilkka Kakko was a demonstration and research partner in the Professional Virtual Communities (PVC) area.

ECOLEAD is acknowledged widely as the main achievement in the research discipline of  Collaborative Networked Organizations (CNOs). The methodologies and practices of CNOs were researched, developed, piloted.  Based on the results of the project Springer published three books:

”Network -Centric Collaboration and Supporting Networks”, edited by Luis M. Camarinha Matos & Hamideh Afsarmanesh & Martin Ollus, 2006

”Methods and Tools for Collaborative Networked Organizations”, edited by Luis M. Camarinha Matos & Hamideh Afsarmanesh & Martin Ollus, 2008

”Collaborative Networks: Reference Modelling” , by Luis M. Camarinha Matos & Hamideh Afsarmanesh, 2008

The reference model ARCON and the methodologies and tools developed and piloted in ECOLEAD have been the theoretical basis for the development of our 3GSP (Third Generation Science Parks) – concept and have also given the building blocks for our approach towards the way we build innovation communities. The understanding of the virtual organizations and teams and especially the vital role of Virtual Organization Breeding Environments (VBEs) are useful in the creation of networked business ecosystems and can be utilized also when supporting cluster development in regions.

The PVC and VBE models are further developed by Karostech and in the pipeline we have a new ”freelancers and coworkers in cloud” service, which is soon ready for the piloting phase.