Realizing the Promise of Digital Engineering: Planning, Implementing, and Evolving the Ecosystem

ABSTRACT Gaining benefits of digital engineering is not only about implementing digital technologies. An ecosystem for innovation is a system of systems in its own right, only partly engineered, subject to risks and challenges of evolving socio‐technical systems. This paper summarizes an aid to planning, analyzing, implementing, and improving innovation ecosystems. Represented as a configurable model‐based reference pattern used by collaborating INCOSE working groups, it was initially applied in targeted INCOSE case studies, and subsequently elaborated and applied to diverse commercial and defense ecosystems. Explicating the recurrent theme of consistency management underlying all historical engineering, it is revealing of digital engineering's special promise, and enhances understanding of historical as well as future engineering and life cycle management. It includes preparation of human and technical resources to effectively consume and exploit digital information assets, not just create them, capability enhancements over incremental release trains, and evolutionary steering using feedback and group learning.