Social Innovation or Good idea?

In the article,  “African Entrepreneurs Deflate Google’s Internet Boom Idea,” it showed how great ideas are not enough in social innovations. Social innovations rely on a combination of several interlocking parts to make the overall social innovation. Google came up with an awesome idea that was created in a lab halfway around that they thought would make a major difference in the everyday lives of people on Africa. The article said, “that from what we’ve seen, there are huge swaths of people who don’t have connectivity.” If you look at data, it shows that there is a large number of people on the continent without Internet connection. The simple solution would be to give them Internet. So that is what Google did, it came up with an awesome idea to make Internet more accessible.

Google created a solar powered balloon that would deliver Internet to people who do not have it. It sounds wonderful almost revolutionary, but was the process well thought out? This was the question that was explored in grave detail in the article. It really showed how Google’s great idea had limited capacity in some or most of the communities. In order to log on to the Internet, you need a device that would allow you to access to the Internet. Google’s idea is a little before its time. It is basically an airplane before the Wright Brothers.This is why the concepts we have been discussing in class are so important. Many of the problems with their model could have been identified if they would have focused on a more human centered design aspect. 

The objective of social innovation is to maximize social impact and in order to do that, one must understand people’s problem. A problem in the US may not be a problem in a country like Kenya. This is why human centered design is one of the focal points throughout the course because tailored made solutions maximize social impact. Ideas are formulated all the time, but social innovations make impact. The steps from ideas to being social innovations rely on concepts like human centered designed, government policies and sustainability. Google failed to answer all three of these concepts. What is the Internet balloons value to people without it? Are there any government restrictions on balloons in are and in the airspace? How financially and physically sustainable are the balloons that would be over the continent of Africa? All three of these questions are key to determining if the Internet balloon could be a social innovation. Formulating good ideas is nice, but actually adding value to society is even greater. In conclusion, how do we close the gap between ideas and social innovations? How do we help insure an aid social innovators in making sure they don't follow what google did?