ClusterOS Diagnostic Profile
Aberdeen Digital
Aberdeen Digital runs on 83 evidence items (Aberdeen Digital UKRI grants: 75 grants, £96m total, 14 distinct lead organis). The diagnostic resolves a Extraction-Narrative configuration at MEDIUM confidence.
Value extraction events generate narrative about ecosystem success; narrative legitimises continued extraction by framing it as ecosystem contribution; uncertainty about whether extraction is harmful absorbed by the success narrative.
"A probe could test whether UKRI disaggregating the 248 follow-on funding events (P011) into "retained in region" vs. "extracted from region" categories in public reporting reduces the system's ability to absorb success and uncertainty signals through extraction-narrative coupling. If follow-on funding events were reported with geographic destination (e.g., "148 events: funding to Aberdeen-based entities; 100 events: funding to entities outside Aberdeen"), it might expose whether the success narrative (Narrating) around follow-on funding (currently framed as ecosystem success) obscures extraction patterns (Extracting), potentially making the difference between activity and retention visible and weakening the narrative legitimisation of...
Leverage hypotheses are testable perturbations, not prescriptions. Where demand-side behaviour is weakly visible, the correct move is observation — improving visibility before attempting change.
A full ClusterOS diagnostic adds actor questionnaire data, working sessions, and anchor interviews — producing higher-confidence stall identification, board-ready stack analysis, and leverage hypotheses calibrated to your specific context.