Our communities are facing complex challenges. Whether in areas such as housing, food security, youth employment or other areas, there are no silver bullets and no easy answers. Our capacity to solve these challenges is present, and is even stronger than ever. Only no single individual, group, organization or government can claim to have all the pieces required to solve these complex social challenges, but they can all contribute something. What is needed is to connect, assemble and test the pieces that together can help bring the solution.
This is exactly what social innovation labs do. In this CKX opening plenary, Joeri van den Steenhoven, Director of the MaRS Solutions Lab, shares his perspectives on the challenges communities face today and tomorrow, and why we need to think about systems change. He shows how labs work and how community knowledge - in its many forms - can and must be assembled, adapted and reconfigured to bring about the change we want in our communities.
CKX: Some Assembly Required - Innovation for Complex Challenges
1. Some assembly required
Innovation for complex challenges
Joeri van den Steenhoven
Director, MaRS Solutions Lab
@joerivds solutions-lab.marsdd.com#CKX
2.
3.
4. The basic economic resource – the means of production, to use economist’s term – is no longer
capital, nor land, nor labor. It is and will be knowledge.
Value is now created by productivity and innovation, both applications of knowledge to work.
!
Peter Drucker (1993)
8. Fire fighters
in the US
Police Officers
in the Netherlands
Food Banks
in Canada
Families in need
in Australia
The power of the community
9. InstitutionsCommunities
Difficult to use talents of people
Decrease of problem solving capacity
People better educated and informed,
and many want to be engaged
Problem solving capacity on record high
PEOPLE
10. InstitutionsCommunities
Difficult to use talents of people
Operate in silos, so remains difficult to
collaborate despite technology
Decrease of problem solving capacity
People better educated and informed,
and many want to be engaged
Technology enables to collaborate
and perform complex tasks horizontally
Problem solving capacity on record high
PEOPLE
TECHNOLOGY
11. InstitutionsCommunities
Difficult to use talents of people
Fewer public resources, often restricted to
certain kind of funding
Difficult to collaborate, operate in silos
Decrease of problem solving capacity
People better educated and informed,
and many want to be engaged
More private capital for social good, and
investing it for impact
Technology enables us to collaborate
and perform complex tasks horizontally
Problem solving capacity on record high
PEOPLE
CAPITAL
TECHNOLOGY
16. Albert Einstein
“If I had an hour to solve a
problem,
I'd spend 55 minutes thinking
about the problem and 5
minutes thinking about
solutions.”
!
Albert Einstein
17. Step 1: Understanding the problem
User
perspective
System
Perspective
Institutional
perspective
19. Step 2: Creating space for experimentation
Interpret'
Intervene'
Observe'
Heifetz'et'al.,'2009,'The'Prac4ce'of'Adap4ve'Leadership'
20. Step 3: Scaling and turning new solutions into new standards
Pilots Prototypes
• Targeted system change interventions
• Testing small-scale before scaling
• Not just focus on new solution, but
also how to change system to scale it
(e.g policies, capacity)
• Stand-alone interventions
• Little incentives to scale
• Focus on solution
22. Developing new solutions
So U Co Pr Sc
Solutions Understand Co-create Prototype Scale
You only understand the problem once you start to solve it.
23. Policy Change
Po F V Ev Np
Policy change Frame Vision Evidence New policies
24. Building capacity for change
Ca St I Ea Em
Capacity Stakeholders Innovators Early adopters Early Majority
25. H R T M
Hypothesis Research Test Market
Po F V Ev Np
Policy change Frame Vision Evidence New policies
So U Co Pr Sc
Solutions Understand Co-create Prototype Scale
Ca St I Ea Em
Capacity Stakeholders Innovators Early adopters Early Majority
Periodic Table of Systems Change
26. H R T M
Hypothesis Research Test Market
Po F V Ev Np
Policy change Frame Vision Evidence New policies
So U Co Pr Sc
Solutions Understand Co-create Prototype Scale
Ca St I Ea Em
Capacity Stakeholders Innovators Early adopters Early Majority
Periodic Table of Systems Change
A COMMON CHANGE STRATEGY
ACTIONS
GROWING MOVEMENT
27. New
Job
First year on the job
Youth prepare, train & search for job
Employers strategize, create & hire
STRATEGIZE
Workforce planning
CREATE
Job creation & design
HIRE
Search & hire
PREPARE
Education & Training
on general/soft skills
TRAIN
Train & Experience
on job skills (eg.
Internship)
SEARCH
Job Search &
Application
ON-BOARDING PROBATION EXTENSION
Seeing the system
28. New
Job
First year on the job
Youth prepare, train & search for job
Employers strategize, create & hire
STRATEGIZE
Workforce planning
CREATE
Job creation & design
HIRE
Search & hire
PREPARE
Education & Training
on general/soft skills
TRAIN
Train & Experience
on job skills (eg.
Internship)
SEARCH
Job Search &
Application
ON-BOARDING PROBATION EXTENSION
1
2
3
4
4
5
5
A
B
CD
E
E
F
Designing & Prototyping Interventions
29. Scaling for change
The Business Model Canvas
Systems Change Edition
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License
Problem Concept
Users & Customers
List your targeted users and customers.
Value Proposition
others.
Systems Change
List what your intervention can achieve at scale.
Key Activities
List the actions you must undertake.
Key Partnerships
List the partners, suppliers, and allies you need.
Key Resources
List the resources you need for your key activities.
Revenue Streams
List your most important sources of revenue.
Cost Structure
Team Name / Organization
34. #3 Look for the smallest possible intervention,
with the largest possible impact
35. #4 No action without reflection,
no reflection without action
36. Some assembly required
Innovation for complex challenges
Joeri van den Steenhoven
Director, MaRS Solutions Lab
@joerivds solutions-lab.marsdd.com#CKX