Using Assessments to Improve Funding Decisions

What if we could measure adaptive capacity with the same precision we apply to engineering rocket systems?

Dr. Irena Chaushevska Danilovska reveals how neuroscience capabilities integrate with distributed innovation ecosystems to create a mission assurance architecture for organizations seeking resilience in dynamic environments.

After building startup ecosystems across Silicon Valley, the US, and Europe, Dr. Danilovska recognized a critical pattern: investment systems deployed billions based on networks rather than capability under pressure. Her research validates what becomes possible when we engineer resilient infrastructure AND resilient minds as one integrated system.

Paradigm Shifts:

→ The 71% Solution: Six validated dimensions of "Adaptive Capacity Under Uncertainty" predict entrepreneurial success with 71% accuracy (vs. Big Five's 10%)—transforming human performance from soft variable to quantifiable mission assurance metric

→ Distributed Redundancy Architecture: Regional innovation hubs co-located with NASA centers create parallel supplier networks—eliminating six-month wait times and single-point failures threatening national security

→ Complementarity Engineering: Mission-specific team profiles optimize for collective adaptive capacity, not individual perfection (commanders: resilience + leadership; specialists: curiosity + innovativeness; directors: decision-making + opportunism)

The Innovation: Space Coast Valley Earth Port pioneers integrated infrastructure development and human potential assessment as one co-evolutionary system. No hardware milestone without a matching ecosystem + human milestone. No subjective selection without evidence-based assessment.

Key Finding: Only 3-5% of aspiring entrepreneurs possess the necessary baseline adaptive capacity. Corporate CEOs demonstrate strength in resilience/leadership but exhibit weakness in curiosity and value creation. Successful founders score high across all dimensions—and these traits are trainable through neurofeedback protocols.

Strategic Reframe: "How do we architect both resilient infrastructure and optimized human teams as integrated elements? How do we design adaptive capacity—human and organizational—into systems from inception rather than hoping for it?"

The next decade will return humanity to the Moon and push toward Mars. The systems we build now—both technological and human—determine whether we thrive beyond Earth.

Guest: Dr. Irena Chaushevska Danilovska, Founder & CEO, Space Coast Valley Earth Port

Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata Desai Advisors

Series Hosts:

Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

Ecosystemic Futures is a systems foresight series provided by Shoshin Works, evolved from our collaboration with NASA's Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project.