Ecosystems are networks of organisations—including suppliers, distributors, customers, system integrators, competitors, manufacturers, government agencies, retailiers, research institutes, educational organisations and so on—involved in the delivery of a specific type of product or service through both competition and cooperation.
The idea is that each entity in the ecosystem affects and is affected by the others, creating a constantly evolving relationship in which each entity must be flexible and adaptable in order to survive as in a biological ecosystem.
Photonics is being applied in many ecosystems (but there are more)