Digital Ecosystems Institute

What Digital Ecosystems Institute does

Digital Ecosystems Institute (DEI) is a privately held Dutch knowledge and network organization founded in 2020 and headquartered in Amersfoort, Netherlands. It operates with a small team (approximately 9 employees) and no external funding, parent company, or public listing. Its core proposition is ecosystem thinking — a methodology for helping public and private organizations structure cross-organizational collaboration around digital transformation — anchored in a proprietary framework called the DEBB-model (Digital Ecosystems Building Blocks). DEI explicitly does not develop software; its intellectual property is methodological, curated research, and community convening power.

DEI's product portfolio is organized around three pillars: development, research, and learning. The development pillar centers on two annual communities of practice — DESF (Digital Ecosystem Services Framework) and EiDT (Ecosystemen in Digitale Transitie), the latter run in partnership with Nyenrode Business Universiteit and iBestuur — which are being merged into a single combined program (DESF 4) launching May 2026. The research pillar is dominated by the ITeX Monitor, an annual bidirectional IT satisfaction benchmark run jointly with Motivaction that covers roughly 75 Dutch IT service providers and 450+ relationship evaluations per cycle, using a proprietary Net Collaboration Score (NCS) methodology. The learning pillar comprises masterclasses, minor classes, and the annual DEI Summit. Sub-brands include the ITeX Yearbook (physical copies sold at €12.50, digital version free) and bundled whitepapers on co-sourcing, SIAM, and sector-specific ecosystem topics.

Commercially, DEI monetizes through recurring community-of-practice membership fees for DESF/EiDT participants, premium ITeX Monitor participation packages (offering enhanced benchmarking and visibility to service providers), and ancillary yearbook and event revenue. GTM is community-led and event-driven, with distribution channels centered on direct enterprise outreach, the DEI Summit, and a referral partnership with Pink Elephant. The customer base spans Dutch enterprise IT providers (Proact, Eurofiber, Kyndryl, Goodzo, Team Rockstars IT), government and semi-public ecosystem orchestrators (UWV, ProRail, ERTMS), and education-sector organizations (SURF). Pricing for most offerings is not publicly disclosed beyond the €12.50 yearbook price point, indicating a B2B enterprise sales motion rather than self-serve commerce.

Name

Digital Ecosystems Institute

Legal name

Digital Ecosystems Institute

Website

https://digitalecosystems.institute

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Digital Ecosystems Institute is a privately held Dutch knowledge and network organization that helps public and private organizations collaborate through ecosystem thinking, operating annual research (ITeX Monitor), communities of practice (DESF, EiDT), and educational programs serving Dutch IT service providers and ecosystem orchestrators.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Amersfoort

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. ITeX Monitor Research Services: DEI conducts annual IT satisfaction research (ITeX Monitor) in partnership with Motivaction. Paid packages include quality interviews with clients, presentations on location, and conversations with senior advisors. Service providers pay for enhanced benchmarking and visibility in the market.
2. ITeX Yearbook Sales: Physical copies of the ITeX Yearbook are sold for €12.50 per copy. Digital versions are available for free download. The yearbook contains research results and whitepapers on market developments.
3. DESF and EiDT Community Membership: Organizations participate in annual programs (Communities of Practice) that include working groups, fieldlabs, and expert meetings. Participants contribute to developing building blocks and best practices for ecosystem collaboration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Digital Ecosystems Institute is a knowledge and network organization that supports organizations in ecosystemic (cross-organizational) collaboration through development, research, and education. It runs Communities of Practice (DESF and EiDT), conducts the annual bidirectional ITeX Monitor IT satisfaction research with Motivaction, and offers masterclasses, minor classes, and the annual DEI Summit. The DEBB-model (Digital Ecosystems Building Blocks) is its proprietary framework for structuring ecosystem collaboration.

Product overview

Digital Ecosystems Institute operates as a knowledge and network organization offering a portfolio of research programs, educational offerings, and community-building initiatives focused on ecosystem collaboration in digital transformation. The core products include the ITeX Monitor (annual IT satisfaction research conducted with Motivaction), the DESF framework development program (building reusable ecosystem construction blocks through annual cohorts), and the EiDT multi-year research program (bringing together public and private organizations for ecosystem collaboration). Educational offerings include masterclasses and minor classes on ecosystem thinking and behavioral change. The organization also hosts the annual DEI Summit as a knowledge-sharing event. These offerings are interconnected through the shared goal of developing, supporting, and spreading the digital ecosystem philosophy—research insights feed into educational programs, while community programs generate practical building blocks for ecosystem implementation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DESF (Digital Ecosystems Services Framework): A community of practice and framework for organizations to understand and implement ecosystem thinking, with annual cohorts developing building blocks for ecosystem setup.
• EiDT (Ecosystemen in Digitale Transitie)
• ITeX Monitor

Products and services

• ITeX Monitor Annual IT satisfaction research program that measures mutual (bidirectional) satisfaction between IT service providers and their outsourcing clients in the Netherlands, using the Net Collaboration Score methodology. Participants pay for premium benchmarking, on-site presentations, and conversations with senior advisors.
• DESF (Digital Ecosystem Services Framework) Multi-year community of practice (annual cohort) in which organizations collaboratively develop reusable building blocks (the DEBB-model) and best practices that other organizations can use to establish digital ecosystems. Membership is annual and includes working groups, fieldlabs, and expert meetings.
• EiDT (Ecosystemen in Digitale Transitie)

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Pink ElephantminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 30 June 2026DEI and Pink Elephant co-organize the Pink Elephant Contact Group (PECG) round table meetings. These events bring together IT professionals to discuss topics like AI adoption, productivity, and ecosystem collaboration.
• Nyenrode Business UniversiteitcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2025Nyenrode Business Universiteit partners with DEI and iBestuur on the EiDT (Ecosystemen in Digitale Transitie) research program. Nyenrode provides leadership development and education for decision-makers in governance, data, and digital infrastructure.
• iBestuurcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2025iBestuur partners with DEI and Nyenrode on the EiDT program. iBestuur contributes broad communication and documentation of insights through online channels and events like GovTech and the annual DEI congress.
• MotivactioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024DEI partners with Motivaction, an independent Dutch research bureau, to conduct the annual ITeX Monitor research. Motivaction brings nearly 40 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative research, while DEI contributes ecosystem thinking expertise. Together they developed the Net Collaboration Score methodology for bidirectional IT satisfaction measurement.
• LightyearminorOthersLightyear, an automotive startup, was interviewed as part of DEI's ecosystem research, sharing insights about data exchange complexity in the automotive industry ecosystem.
• RochdaleminorOthersRochdale, a housing corporation, participated in DEI Summit as a case study on strategic partnerships and IT outsourcing best practices.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pink Elephant: Dutch IT management consulting and events organization that co-hosts round tables with DEI. Directly comparable as a community-building and knowledge-sharing organization serving IT professionals in the Netherlands.
• CIO Platform Nederland: Dutch membership organization for CIOs and IT leaders. Comparable as a community of practice focused on IT collaboration, governance, and digital strategy in the Netherlands.
• iBestuur: Dutch online community and publication for government IT decision-makers. Strategic partner on EiDT; directly comparable as a Dutch digital governance community and content platform.

Regional players

• SURF: Dutch ICT cooperative of education and research institutions; EiDT participant. Comparable as a Dutch sector orchestrator focused on digital infrastructure collaboration, though focused on education rather than cross-sector ecosystems.
• Platform Digital Infrastructuur: Dutch stakeholder platform for digital infrastructure. Comparable as a Dutch convening organization focused on ecosystem collaboration between telecom, data centers, and government stakeholders.

Others

• Motivaction: Dutch research bureau co-developing the ITeX Monitor. Comparable as a research services provider but operating across all sectors, with DEI contributing ecosystem expertise to the partnership.
• Nyenrode Business Universiteit: Dutch business university partnering with DEI on EiDT. Comparable as an academic institution producing research and executive education, but in a broader business leadership context rather than ecosystem-specific.

Broad incumbents

• ISACA: Global membership association for IT governance, risk, and cybersecurity professionals. Comparable as a community-based knowledge organization advancing IT governance frameworks, though broader in scope than DEI's ecosystem focus.
• TM Forum: Global industry association for telecom and digital ecosystem operators. Directly relevant as a community developing frameworks for digital ecosystem collaboration and orchestration, with comparable focus on ecosystem building blocks.
• Gartner: Global IT research and advisory firm. Comparable as a research subscription business serving IT decision-makers, but operates at vastly larger scale across all IT domains rather than specializing in Dutch ecosystem collaboration.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/digital-ecosystems-institute

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Digital Ecosystems Institute