To Solve Global Problems, Start With What You Know

This week’s readings showed that many social innovations with global impact started as solutions to much smaller problems. It’s especially interesting that many products that meet basic human needs such as energy and education in the developing world started as answers to problems in the United States. Their creators didn’t set out to solve humanitarian problems on a global scale, but by tackling a problem they saw firsthand in their own lives, they were able to craft a solution with broad application to tackle similar but more pressing issues in the developing world.

The makers of VOTO, for instance, wanted to create a way for backpackers to convert the energy from a campfire into electricity to charge their electronics. While it’s an interesting and useful invention for outdoor enthusiasts in wealthy countries, the initial idea wasn’t a social innovation. However, Point Source Power realized that the product could have a social impact on the many communities in the developing world that use wood stoves for energy.[1]

Khan Academy, a revolutionary educational organization, has a similar backstory. The company developed from the YouTube lessons Salamar Khan created to help his cousin with algebra into a way to provide a free, high-quality education to any student with an internet connection.[2]

These stories suggest that innovative ways to meet basic human needs in the developing world can spring from solutions to smaller problems in wealthy countries. Just because the initial idea isn’t aimed at social impact doesn’t mean that it can’t turn into a social innovation, just like VOTO and Khan Academy. This process allows the innovator to start small with a problem that he or she is very familiar with, such as needing to charge a phone on a multi-day camping trip, and later apply their innovation to a more pressing social problem.

The innovator doesn’t even need to be the one to realize the potential social impact of his or her creation. Khan Academy, for instance, became a global phenomenon partially due to the interest and investment of Bill Gates, who used the videos to teach his own children.[3] While many successful social innovations were tailored to the developing world from the start, it’s also worth asking what inventions in the developed world might have the potential for broader social impact in poor communities around the globe.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURHTER READING:

Howard Husock, Reclaiming The American Dream VI: The (Other) Lessons of Khan Academy, Forbes.com, October 28, 2014

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[1] Stomberg, Joseph, “Five Innovative Technologies that Bring Energy to the Developing World.” Smithsonian, May 2, 2013, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-innovative-technologies-that-bring-energy-to-the-developing-world-49271677/?no-ist.

[2] Noer, Michael, "One Man, One Computer, 10 Million Students: How Khan Academy Is Reinventing Education," Forbes.com, November 2, 2012, https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelnoer/2012/11/02/one-man-one-computer-10-million-students-how-khan-academy-is-reinventing-education/4/#7dafff587a26.
[3] Husock, Howard, “Reclaiming The American Dream VI: The (Other) Lessons of Khan Academy,” Forbes.com, October 28, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardhusock/2014/10/28/reclaiming-the-american-dream-vi-the-other-lessons-of-khan-academy/#2b527f062159.