Venture Development and Growth

The article that I read was “Keys to Sustainable Enterprise”, which looks at two different methods in which social innovators can bring about positive change for society by either working with the status quo to improve it or by introducing new methods to help solve the problem. In the first key, the author looks at “balancing an equilibrium”. By this I am referring to how to bring everyone in the system into equilibrium by involving customers and government. In one example, the author looked at the issue between natives and extractive industries taking natives land. The government was involved to help curb deforestation as well as GPS mapping for natives to show where their land is. This technology along with government enforcement has helped reduce deforestation and protect native’s land. Similarly, the author talks about the power of the consumer to stop negative practices in industry such as the rug market, which used child slave labor to produce cheap rugs. This model I feel is starting to be used around the world as more activist groups are trying to educate consumers about where their goods come from. One of the industries that is currently under attack is the produce sector in the United States in regards to the use of GMOs. Lobbyist have been trying to get the government to force labeling of products to inform consumers about what products are made using GMOs and let them decide whether or not they want to continue buying produce from these companies.    

The other key that the author mentioned was technology. Many social innovators have found success by providing a lower cost to current technology that is being used. The most interesting story that I read from this article was the use of the African giant pouched rat to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis in infected patients. This idea I felt was very simple to think of as it only required someone to compare two animals, (a dog and a rat) and figure out how to vastly reduce the social cost of a big problem that has affected thousands around the world.

After reading this article and how the use of consumer power to create social change, I was reminded of my time working in a campaign office to help save the use of antibiotics. Much of the chicken that is consumed today are fed antibiotics to ensure that the flocks are healthy. The issue with this, is that when antibiotics are overused bacteria can become immune to it which then negatively effects humans who rely on antibiotics to cure many of our own bacterial infections. In this campaign our goal was to target and educate consumers to let them know where their food was coming from and whether or not the meat they were eating was being fed an unhealthy amount of antibiotics. Our goal for the campaign was to get KFC to stop buying chickens that are raised on antibiotics so that we can protect human health and prevent the creation of a superbug.      

Need Your Advice!

A small team consisting of mobile phone developers, engineers, and designers has decided to create a mobile phone for children in a low-income illiterate group of families. According to traditional market research methodologies, a common approach would be to conduct focus groups and surveys and analyze the data collected to derive conclusions about what the phone should be like.

Now, while interviewing a child, who could be a potential customer of the phone, they ask him/her “what” does he/she needs or wants on the phone.  A dozen of such interviews reveal that the most common features children liked to have on their phones are a good camera, GPS, social media apps, a music player and games in addition to utilities like a calculator, clock, calendar, and browser.

Although, performance is an unspoken quality that mobile users seek in a good phone. But all the features demanded by the interviewees cannot be implemented under the given speed and space constraints. Games, music player, social media apps and GPS are some features that use a lot of processor cycles and memory.

Moreover, the users in the target market are unaware of these tradeoffs as they don’t understand the intricacies of developing a mobile phone. Hence the design team is posed with a challenge to choose between desirability and feasibility. They realize that they have to compromise one aspect to some extent in order to accommodate another so that the product design is viable for their business.

One of the ways to resolve this conventionally would be to research more on the configuration required on the phone and hence ask the users about the technical specification they would want on their phones. A simple such configuration is defined in terms of Gigabytes, frequency (Hz), megapixel of camera, processor chipset, CPU, GPU, operating system, speaker type, screen resolution (pixels), WLAN, SIM size, etc in addition to the color, price, and weight of the phone.

Now, should the team ask their users to specify these attributes of the phone? What might be their answer, if they do? Remember, these are children not educated enough to decipher technical jargons and have limited or no access to advanced technology. You are a consulting design thinker and the team approaches you to give them useful guidance on how to solve this problem. What would you advise them?

There could be many solutions to this problem, therefore considering as many options and perspectives as possible can be helpful in overcoming this challenge. So feel free to comment and give your inputs.

Karishma Shah

MISM 2016-17

Innovating Educators

    When thinking about creation and innovation, it seems very natural to want to address needs like access to potable water or shelter. Innovations that accomplish this objective, like LifeStraw, are certainly of exceeding importance, however they fail in a rather unique sense. That is, these innovations don’t train the next generation to innovate for themselves. While LifeStraw can be considered a substantial product for giving those in developing countries access to potable water, its users have a higher potential to lack understanding of the process that is cleaning their water.
    This result is unfortunate for a very significant reason. It only takes one change in a system, in which an innovation operates, to require an more robust response to the same problem. For example, newly introduced bacteria in a water source could render LifeStaw useless in its current form and require a more innovations in the product to appropriately address the problem. However, those who bear the consequences of such a change first and most harshly are the least equipped to confront it. Importantly, innovators in the field of education such as Raspberry Pi Foundation and Khan Academy are providing an alternative models of success.
    The Raspberry Pi Foundation sells “credit card-sized single-board computers” around the world for under $35. In fact, they are best selling UK-made computer in the world as of 2016 selling more than 10 million computers. While the tiny but powerful machine is used for a variety of fun projects like playing video games or streaming music among hobbyists, the Foundation’s primary goal is to promote the teaching of computer science in the developing world as well in schools across the developed world (Chacos, Raspberry Pi Foundation). It accomplishes this goal through mentoring programs for both teachers and students, financial support for continued education, and outreach programs for underrepresented groups in the field of technology (Blanchette). Through its own efforts, the Foundation could very well be creating and supporting the next generation of computer innovators. In other words, the Foundation has focused its efforts on sustaining innovation in its own field.
    To be clear, the argument is not that innovating to provide better access to potable water is the same as creating a small and powerful single-broad computer. However, the suggestion is that innovators who work to provide basic needs to those in developing areas should put more focus on the sustainability of their products and services. If creators of products and services like LifeStraw were to designate more resources to informing their users about the development of their work, users could have a greater opportunity to innovate themselves. Doing so could open up development to important technologies to a much greater population, hastening the pace of innovation worldwide.

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Blanchette, M. (n.d.). 4 ways the Raspberry Pi is being used in education - O’Reilly Radar. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://radar.oreilly.com/2015/07/4-ways-the-raspberry-pi-is-being-used-in-education.html

Chacos, B. (2016, March 14). 10 surprisingly practical Raspberry Pi projects anybody can do. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/3043022/computers/10-surprisingly-practical-raspberry-pi-projects-anybody-can-do.html

Raspberry Pi Foundation. (n.d.). Raspberry Pi - Teach, Learn, and Make with Raspberry Pi. Retrieved September 13, 2016, from https://www.raspberrypi.org/

This $35 Computer Just Passed a Major Sales Milestone. (2016, September 8). Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2016/09/08/raspberry-pi-10-million/

Powerplay

Recently, there was a storm here in Pittsburgh that caused several power outages across the city. My neighborhood was one of the areas affected. Since outages aren’t a thing here apparently, there was no system of back-up electricity in the house, and the one flashlight we had was hardly sufficient.

Now, I’m from Pakistan, a country notorious for electricity shortages and frequent black outs. Pakistan is also highly polarized when it comes to income groups and the utilities they have access to; electricity and back-up power included. According to the World Bank, more than a third of Pakistan’s population does not have access to electricity. Those 8 hours I spent in the dark that day is how 37.6% Pakistanis spend their lives. That’s worrying.  And that is why, for me, social innovation in energy is so important.

The innovations outlined in the article start small; a torch, a portable charger, maybe even a fan.  From where we stand, that may not sound like much (it didn’t to me before that black out either). But in their absence, one realizes what they’re worth. A torch, for example, can help you read, or catch up on school work, something the children in thousands of remote villages cannot. Instead their study hours are confined to the sunlight. A fan, for example, can help keep mosquitos away and prevent diseases (like dengue). This becomes all the more important in Pakistan’s rural areas where sleeping out in the open is commonplace. Thus establishing the need for these devices, however small they may be. Onwards to the solution…

The other thing quite common in these rural areas is the various physical activities the locals are engaged in the whole day, be it chopping wood, kneading dough, weaving carpets, or even playing sports (always cricket, without fail). So here you have a bunch of kinetic people that need electricity and then there’s SOCCKET, that uses a kinetically-powered pendulum to generate power, all the while that its being used in a round of football soccer. The prospects of translating a similar mechanism, or technology to other activities is exciting, maybe a wristband that generates power based on the movement it records. XYZ watts per axe-swing.

Currently these areas heavily rely on firewood as a fuel source, and for a lucky few villages (lucky by virtue of being chosen as pilot projects), solar power. The kinetically powered pendulum adds a much needed third option.

Local innovations; "process" more than a "product"

The readings of this week focused on many examples of innovations addressing social needs such as access to safe drinking water, free education, food etc. Designers, inventors, engineers and innovators are constantly looking for new solutions to address social issues. Examples include the “Hippo water roller”, which is a tool to transport water on long-distances for people who live far from water facilities and have to walk miles to get water; or the “CardioPad” , a computer tablet that detects heart disease in rural areas where access to medical services is difficult. I found that the article “Africa Innovations: 15 ideas helping to transform a continent” is very useful as it highlights three important sections in innovations: the problem; the method to address the problem and the verdict (the results). (1) I think that it is important to add a section: the sustainability of the project. Can the results observed be consistent and sustainable? 

In my opinion, The example “9 DIY AID SUPPLIES” is one of the innovations that was the most relevant in the article about African innovations because it was sustainable at the local level; the authors stated “ Advance Aid’s work in Kenya in 2011 marks the first time that emergency relief goods produced in Africa have been provided for an African emergency, with 80% of goods sources within the country. It put $1.5bn into the Kenyan economy and brought orders to 12 local manufacturers”.(1) Involving the local community and transferring knowledge are key to help a country progress. The report “Innovation for Sustainable Development” published by the United Nations emphasizes the crucial role of local innovations in social and economic development in Africa. The local innovations are more a “process” than a final “product”. They can involve several businesses and have an impact on production, on the value chain, on the distribution channels etc. Furthermore, they can “engender learning processes that go well beyond the projects themselves, pointing the way to solutions of national or regional significance”. (2) Thus benefits from local/sustainable/successful innovations transcend the original purpose of the innovation.

However, the report of the United Nations also mentions that Africa is still behind, and that a large part of Sub-Saharan African countries have difficulties adopting innovations due to their lack of resources in R&D ; their small local markets; and the high level of educated Africans migrating. (2) The challenge for social innovators is to implement innovations that can be adopted by these countries, and that will not only help the countries develop but continue evolving simultaneously. 

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/26/africa-innovations-transform-continent

(2) United Nations. "Innovation for Sustainable Development" (2008) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/publication.pdf

Humanizing Education Through Technology

Humanizing Education Through Technology

Two decades ago, the concept of delivering an educational lesson through a recorded video would have been considered a dehumanizing experience. How could students learn without the physical presence of a teacher instructing them in a classroom setting? Today, Khan Academy’s founder, Salman Khan, has flipped this notion and made an extremely strong case of humanizing teaching through a detailed set of recorded videos.

Before establishing a free global classroom for anyone with internet access, Khan was an analyst at a hedge fund. One day, he casually recorded an educational video for his cousins and uploaded it on YouTube for them to watch later on as a supplemental lesson. To his surprise, they told him “they preferred the automated version of their cousin to their cousin. At first it is very unintuitive but if you think about it from their perspective, it makes sense” (TED 2011). Khan realized that his cousins could pause, rewind and review his lecture as many times as they wanted without ‘disturbing’ the teacher. From this small instance, Khan dreamt big and decided to explore the potential of this platform; another one of many examples where change began by a small idea, and was incrementally built on to become a large vast-impact innovation.

With propagation of education in mind, Khan began playing around with the idea of generating impact through his recorded lectures. For me, the most interesting aspect of this phenomenon is the ability to create an intimate educational experience without physical presence. For centuries, people have thought of education to work with the physical presence of a teacher. No doubt, this method has genuine merits. However, when people criticize Khan academy of generating a mechanical educational experience, they are ignoring that it is still more animate than thirty students silently cramped in a class room not allowed to interact with each other. As Khan himself has stated, with no face or body in front of students, they tend to concentrate more on the content.

Moreover, the Khan academy does not claim to be the ultimate substitute to conventional educational methods. Instead, the focus is on supplementing education in any way possible. What does a street kid do who does not have the time and/or resources to go to school in the day? He can still try and learn something from Khan academy (if given access to internet). Similarly, there has been significant progress in schools who give Khan Academy lectures and problems to students for homework and then discuss the material in class. The following article discusses the viability of using Khan Academy in a school in Los Altos, California: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shantanu-sinha/does-khan-academy-really-_b_946969.html. The success of the approach used in the Los Altos school definitely shows such a system has potential for improving education at low costs and in a sustainable manner. Obviously, this is not a one-method-fits-all-approach. The resources are there, it is up to the schools to contextualize them and use it the way them deem best.

Examples like these speak volumes about the future of education. The videos are there for eternity (assuming YouTube servers do not suffer from some astounding crash). Is this a building a block towards a global education curriculum? It might still seem a far-fetched and non-nuanced idea at this point. However, the success and sustainability of the Khan Academy videos do show that this is an area worth exploring in order to globalize quality education, particularly in places where the standards of education are below par.

Work Cited

"Salman Khan: Let's Use Video to Reinvent Education." YouTube. Ed. TED Talks. YouTube, 09 Mar. 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.

The best solutions aren't always close to home

On Tuesday, May 3^rd, the city of Dallas officially closed the campsite for homeless individuals named Tent City.  Tent city was an open space underneath a major interstate highway where nearly 300 people hitched their tents and found community amongst those experiencing similar hardships.  For years, the very visible area represented Dallas’ inability to provide shelter and security for its homeless population, as many of its shelters were overflowing and many homeless individuals with housing vouchers were unable to find affordable housing.

Government officials claimed to be removing individuals from Tent City as an effort to reduce crime, however it was well known that this decision was a part of a cosmetic improvement initiative to attract more tourist activity.  The largest problem with the removal of tent city, was the lack of a solid plan to address the homelessness problem and to provide these now displaced residents with a home.

4 months later, the city has unveiled a new housing complex – The Cottages at Hickory Crossing -  consisting of 50 “tiny-houses” for the city’s “costliest” chronically homeless individuals.  These 400 square- foot cottages will be free for homeless Dallasites that are mentally-ill, involved in the criminal justice system, or other risk factors that increase their need for services and ultimately costs to tax-payers.  KERA news reports that the typical residents here would cost the city $40,000 a year, whereas these cottages only cost $15,000 a piece.

As a native of Dallas, I used to often drive past places like Tent city and wonder why the innovations implemented to solve issues abroad are not modified to solve the issues “in our own backyard.” Reading the article this week on the Ikea Foundation homes, I feel even more strongly about that idea.  From my research, I have not seen a legitimate connection between the tiny home Village of Dallas and the Ikea Foundation initiative being instituted in Ethiopia.  If the tiny home village was not inspired by the Ikea homes, this goes to show how much our local governments can learn from agencies like the UNCHR.  

While the Cottages address a long standing problem in Dallas, they only actually alleviate the issue for 50 people, where we know the number of homeless adults living in Tent City (and other similar areas) to be over 500. The Ikea Foundation homes provide a model for a sustainable and evolving solution to homelessness. For $5,000 less than the cottages, these locations fit families of 5 where the Dallas cottages are made for individuals.  Though they don’t provide electricity or running water, the ability for the Ikea homes to be assembled in hours eliminates the cost of labor that could be covered by willing volunteers. Additionally the incorporation of solar power takes off the burden of utility bills for those living in the structure.

While I do believe that both models serve very unique purposes, I also believe that a morphing of both ideas could create solutions that are sustainable and reach a broader number of those in need, at a low cost to the government and tax payers. My question this week is similar to that of last week: how can we influence government officials to learn from international innovations to more effectively solve the issues of our communities?

- Chelsea J.

Photos and data from http://keranews.org/post/50-tiny-homes-built-dallas-chronically-homeless-are-now-ready-move