System as Space (SaS): A Constellation-Based Methodology for Modelling Complex Ecosystems

Existing approaches to modelling complex ecosystems—stakeholder mappings, CRM systems,network analysis tools—depend on explicitly known, manually documented relationshipsbetween actors. This makes them structurally unable to account for informal dynamics,emergent patterns, and the context-dependent constellations that characterise real-worldinnovation ecosystems. This paper introduces System as Space (SaS), a modelling methodologyfor complex, multilateral, multi-sectoral ecosystems. SaS does not treat systems as networks ofnodes and edges. It treats them as spaces—constituted by participants, voids (spaces of risk andpossibility), and epicentres (organising perspectives). The theoretical foundation is SystemicOrdoliberalism (SOL; Delekta, forthcoming), which integrates process-philosophical thinkingwith a spatial epistemology: observing systemic effects rather than measuring bilateralrelationships. A proof-of-concept prototype has been developed and tested in a municipalinnovation ecosystem in Lower Saxony, Germany, in the domain of health, care, and socialinnovation.