Fun, Frugal and the Perfect Storm

If “necessity is the mother of invention,”[1] I would posit that fun is its father. While reading about ‘Solutions and Enablers to Deliver Basic Human Needs’ and learning of the backstories to the innovations themselves, I repeatedly came across solutions that were the results of one man’s hobby. Joshua Silver, physicist and the inventor of self-adjusting lenses for children in the developing world, was quoted saying that he worked on the revolutionary glasses because he ‘was curious’ and ‘did it for fun.’ [2] Salman Khan, who developed the revolutionary online education platform, Khan Academy, viewed developing hundreds of educational videos in the earlier years as “largely a hobby.” [3] A hobby, by definition, is something someone does in his or her leisure time for pleasure. My first key takeaway from my reading was that those interested in being social innovators should start with what brings them joy.

            I consider myself a MacGyver-like problem solver. In a previous reading I learned of “frugal engineering” [4] thus giving me a name for what I’ve been doing all along personally and professionally—being resourceful, working with what I have, and doing much with little. I love the MacGyver reference because he is an action-hero and I get this image of a high-pressure situation where MacGyver pans his head to the left, then pans his head to the right to assess what he my use in the room to save the day. Being television he always manages to pull odds and ends together and develop a solution. This week’s readings affirm the value of frugal engineering but it also presents two great points: 1) what’s frugal for me may not be frugal for you (or the target population) and 2) what I see to my left and my right which I may involve in the solutions is likely very different from what the target population may see when then look left and look right. The article “Five Innovative Technologies that Bring Energy to the Developing World” highlight a few innovations that leveraged what people already had or what people were already doing. [5] The VOTO device converts the heat from a fire into readily useable electricity. The invention appreciates that millions of people around the world use charcoal and wood-fueled stoves on a daily basis. The article also highlighted the Soccket which sought to take advantage of the fact soccer is the most popular sport in the world and millions of people play the game. [5] A key enabler to delivering basic human needs is working with what that human already has.

            Khan and Khan Academy is an example of both working with what you have (a lesson plan and YouTube) and benefiting from a “perfect storm” of things you don’t have (but may need particularly to make an impact on a larger scale). My last key takeaway was the recognition that sometimes what you need to be successful hasn’t been invented yet or the combination of things you need to increase your impact has yet to be conceived. In the case of Khan Academy his “perfect storm” consisted of widespread broadband, low content costs (both creation and distribution), rapidly proliferating mobile devices, shifting social norms, and a generation of online education adopters. [3] In the case of the innovative canvas tent, Ikea innovators developed for refugees, scientists had to create a perfect storm of technology in one thread—a new type of polymer called Rhulite that is insulated, allows light to pass through a textile but prohibits shadows from casting out. [6]

            Three key enablers to delivering basic human needs are fun, frugal engineering, and a perfect storm.

[1] English proverb

[2] “British inventor’s spectacles revolution for Africa” (The Guardian, May 21, 2011)

[3] “One Man, One Computer, 10 Milion Students: How Khan Academy Is Reinventing Education.” (Forbes, November 19, 2012)

[4] “The Importance of Frugal Engineering” (Sehgal, Dehoff, and Panneer, Strategy+Business, Summer 2010)

[5] “Five Innovative Technologies that Bring Energy to the Developing World.” (Smithsonian, May 2, 2013)

[6] “A New Ingeniously Designed Shelter For Refugees—Made by Ikea” (Fast Company CoExist, June 26, 2013)