Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / 2012 Challenges THANK YOU… We listened, discussed, debated and distilled what we heard. And took a fresh approach to synthesizing your insights. We reframed them along a continuum, from building on problems we know, to looking out to the edge to inspire new thinking. Together, we are working to achieve greater impact. - The Rockefeller Foundation Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / 2012 Challenges
Transcript
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / 2012 Challenges
THANK YOU…
We listened, discussed, debated and distilled what we heard.
And took a fresh approach to synthesizing your insights.
We reframed them along a continuum, from building on problems we know, to looking out to the edge to inspire new thinking.
Together, we are working to achieve greater impact.
- The Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / 2012 Challenges
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Process
WE HEARD YOU. AND WE’RE STILL LISTENING.
These thirty-four ideas emerged from the 2011 Innovation Forum. They span a range of topics and have served as a springboard for connecting insights with new opportunities and reframing challenges for the future.
1. The United Nations of Water
2. Revealing the Real Cost
3. Water Gradation System
4. Industrial Scale Desalination
5. More Crop Per Drop
6. Day-to-Day Conservation
7. Understand the Ecosystem
8. Radical Repurposing
9. Templating
10. Sacrificial Cities
11. City of Angels
12. City-Bank
13. Raise The Speed Limit
14. Civic Academy
15. Citizen Plus
16. Pop-Up Urbanism
17. Use the Anchors
18. The Jeffersonian Fallacy
19. Heroic City Service
20. Two Company Towns
21. Networking Cities
22. Welcome Mat Cities
23. The Good, The Bad, The Data
24. Urban Laboratories
25. Grow What’s Good
26. A New Brand Around Farming
27. Understand Surplus
28. No One-Crop Towns
29. “Seed” Seed Technologies
30. A Global View on Nutrition
31. Keep Food Local
32. Equal Access
33. Insure Against Food Failure
34. Early Crisis Response
Visit: rockefellerfoundation.org/innovationforum for detailed information on these 34 ideas.
WHAT WE’VE DONE
Forum You came together to reframe problems and push the conversation forward. Your insights made the dialogue richer. It was brief but it worked. With your support, we’re shifting our spotlight to discover new solutions.
Reframing We gave ourselves license to think big and pull in outside voices. Each bucket provided a springboard to connect your insights with new opportunities, to combine overlaps and distill six core opportunity areas. We framed these along a continuum, from building on problems we know, to looking out to the edge to inspire new thinking.
Verbatims The forum’s high-level framing was constructive but we wanted the richness of each conversation’s detail. So we went back to the transcripts and dove into their finer points to unpack the most generative moments. By digging into the nitty-gritty, we started building on the congruencies.
Big Ideas We created thirty-four buckets for big ideas that span a range of development topics. Mining the transcripts for nuance gave us an abundant pool to draw from and shed new light on the problems.
What’s next...We want to keep the conversation going. We’re looking to our edge because we know there’s a lot out there already. In fact, you might be working on something now that overlaps with the challenges we’ve identified. With everything going on in our space, connections matter more than new initiatives. That’s why we’re focused on connecting the dots. We value our relationship with you and we’re gearing up to engage more deeply through an online platform next year. We intend to make grants aligned with these challenges and to realize further projects by partnering with or passing along opportunities to others.
Engage where you can…In the meantime, call out overlaps, send us your thoughts, pass these opportunities along to the next generation of leaders. Take a minute to drop one of these cards on the desk of a colleague or friend. Help us identify who else can enrich the conversation and deepen our impact.
Elemental leverages urban blueprinting to develop hou sing and in fras truc tu re for the urban poor. Its first pro ject in Chile used prefabrication to achieve speed. By prefabricating half-hou ses, it enabled ow ners to build a customized se cond half. This scale and speed helped transfer technologies to local builders, empowering them with pre existing in no va tions. Pre fab pro toty pes have hou sed entire neigh bor hoods with scar ce re sour ces and exemplify urban blueprints as social investment.
Examples
Minneapolis, home of the largest Somali community in the US, has rolled out an exemplary welcome mat. By engaging mainstream Minnesotans and the Minneapolis Somali community, the city and supporting organizations have provided humanitarian support to refugees, fostered entrepreneurial skills and higher education and instilled trust among neighboring communities.
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 1
URBAN BLUEPRINTING
The Context
Today’s cities face complex and over-lapping challenges. Some depopulate as others explode; uneven growth emerges alongside unprecedented urban boom; cities scramble to realize new capabilities as they compete for industry investment and global talent. Too often, they reinvent the wheel instead of replicating effective existing templates.
Voices From the Forum
“ You differentiate by saying, ‘we want artists here, we want immigrants here, we want to enable social enterprise and entrepreneurship here.’”
Template to ReplicateCities don’t need to start from scratch. Thriving blueprints can be replicated. Infrastructure, skills and local materials can be repurposed to build test beds that foster experimentation, guide policy and implementation and mitigate the effects of climate change. Template initiatives can make way for new urban norms that foster social enterprise and more sustainable services for vulnerable communities.
Roll Out “Welcome Mats” Attracting, retaining and building human capital is just as vital as finding new uses for traditional assets. This means restructuring incentives and rolling out “welcome mats” to a diverse group of new workers, becoming a place that attracts immigrants, artists and entrepreneurs.
The Frame
URBAN BLUEPRINTING
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 1 / URBAN BLUEPRINTING
1. How might we replicate environments that fuel entrepreneurship and foster innovative culture in emerging cities?
2. How might we restructure incentives to inspire creative responses and revitalize urban spaces?
The Challenge
Beijing’s 798 District illustrates the power of repurposing urban space to focus creative capital and drive eco-nomic development. This initiative transformed old factory infrastructure in a historic neighborhood to build a thriving district for art galleries, studios and restaurants. By dividing, renting out and repurposing state-owned industrial spaces, artists and cultural organizations redesigned the district’s character to develop one of Beijing’s largest centers for contemporary arts and culture.
Examples
Samasource demonstrates how networks can become powerful anchors. This non-profit helps to alleviate poverty by empowering people in developing countries to provide data entry, digitiza-tion, content moderation and other IT services to enterprise customers around the world. By leveraging overlooked human capital, this enterprise show how collaborative networks can meaningfully improve service.
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 2
ANCHORING REGIONS
The Context
From West Philadelphia to Hyderabad, urban institutions serve as anchors that focus investment and transform communities. Redefining anchors allows regions to more evenly and efficiently distribute resources across geographic networks. Today, networks and cross-jurisdictional collaboration are emerging as next generation anchors.
Voices From the Forum
“ Even bankrupt cites have assets.”
Anchor and Integrate ResourcesCities can make a big difference when they encourage collaboration between institutions and their surrounding com-munities. Integrating an institutional anchor’s resources with the surround-ing community often means upgrading quality of life for the neighborhood. Collaborating across jurisdictions streamlines resource deployment, reduces transaction costs and promotes greater resilience.
Build Anchors Bigger Than Hospitals, Universities and Tech Corridors Cities get an edge by connecting to regional networks. Joining forces frees up resources, strengthens services and makes the whole stronger than its parts. Conventional anchors work well but networks and collaboration allow cities to align around a larger purpose and achieve even greater impact.
The Frame
ANCHORING REGIONS
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 2 / ANCHORING REGIONS
1. How might we enable cities to use existing anchors more effectively and to realize new ones?
2. How might we allocate services and expertise to overcome political obstacles that hamper regional cooperation?
The Challenge
Examples
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 3
CIVIC PIONEERING
The Bloomberg Foundation’s City SWAT Teams identify and implement solutions for pressing urban challenges. These high-performance teams are assembled to focus innovative capacity within municipal government. Each one generates and repurposes impactful strategies across multiple cities. The SWAT Teams exemplify the power of reshaping civic capabilities to achieve greater resilience, agility and impact.
China’s large cities have outperformed smaller ones for the last several decades. These cities thrive partly because they actively cultivate seasoned leadership. As municipal leaders accumulate knowl-edge and experience, they are promoted based on achievement to govern pro-gressively larger cities. This model illustrates a method for sidestepping the constraints of the election cycle and building municipal capabilities over the long-term.
The Context
Civil service doesn’t come with a guidebook and cities face a difficult new set of choices in today’s world. Making smart decisions necessitates fresh, multifaceted leaders with new skills and foresight. This requires a break from conventional bureaucracy—a way of envisioning an urban future beyond the constraints of the election cycle.
Voices From the Forum
“ I bet most mayors don’t get taught how to lead.”
Reshape Civic Capabilities Promote new models of apprenticeship and mentoring that train civic leaders to think and work in an agile context. Cultivate highly skilled civic SWAT teams to focus on emerging challenges.
Break with Short-TermismEncourage vision setting through teams that work across categories. Cultivate forecasting skills that enable leaders to envision long-term opportunities.
The Frame
CIVIC PIONEERING
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 3 / CIVIC PIONEERING
1. How might we empower municipal leaders with new models for learning?
2. How might we break with short-term thinking to build a practice around long-term vision setting?
The Challenge
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 4
IRRIGATING EFFICIENCY
Pepsee grassroots irrigation in India has empowered farmers to use per-forated popsicle wrappers to create low-cost drip irrigation systems. Half the cost of conventional drip systems, these technologies financial and social benefits in water-scarce regions like central India is abundantly clear. Irrigate efficiency through simple technologies with smart impact.
Examples
The International Development Enterprise (IDE) has designed and sold productivity enhancing drip irrigation systems to small farmers across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. IDE technol-ogy greatly reduces labor, enables dry season cultivation and significantly increase yields. This initiative represents a good illustration of raising awareness and equalizing access through low-cost drip technologies.
The Context
Agriculture drains 70% of freshwater globally. ‘More crop per drop’ knowledge is out there, but investment and political will remain in short supply. Micro- irrigation technologies have improved yields, incomes and food security but have yet to be widely adopted.
Voices From the Forum
“ We can’t lose sight of technology’s role in agriculture, desalination, waste water treatment, irrigation.”
Stark Technology, Shrewd ImpactEmpower poor farmers with low-cost micro-irrigation systems. Build on existing technologies and invest in new ones to promote greater resilience and smarter water use.
Clarify Benefits, Equalize Access Teach farmers the benefits of new technologies and get them access to productivity-enhancing tools. Create grassroots channels, credit and subsidies that equalize access to local resources and promote growth through equity.
1. How might we grow awareness and provide greater access to local resources?
2. How might we ensure the adoption of micro-irrigation technologies?
The Frame
IRRIGATING EFFICIENCY
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 4 / IRRIGATING EFFICIENCY
The Challenge
Radio and television soap operas have sprung up across Africa and the sub continent to raise awareness among farming communities. A radio drama in Uganda mixes spicy plot twists with techniques to control bacterial disease in bananas— a creative solution to a dangerous public health issue. A Kenyan- soap opera has featured seed soaking techniques to speed up plant-growth. A Bangladeshi TV drama offers farmers ways to improve their livelihoods by adopting new agricultural technolo-gies. All of these exemplify the spirit of
“Farming Now.”
Examples
The Levi’s “Go Forth” Campaign embodies the energy and pioneering spirit of a new generation of workers. Inspired by the need to revitalize blue collar fortitude in Braddock, Pennsylvania, this campaign is an analo-gous example of re-romanticizing a lost notion. It embodies what it might mean to rouse a new generation around lifestyle, values and social interdependence.
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 5
FARMING NOW
The Context
The planet’s average farmer is now over 60. Financial incentives alone have failed to draw a younger generation into farming. Add to that declining profits, rising input costs and low capital expenditure and its no wonder that global food supply is struggling to keep pace with population growth and changing diets. This age-old enterprise needs revitalization through an appeal to deep-seated sentiments.
Broaden Farming’s Appeal Look for new models that encourage young families to continue inter-generational farming. Attract a younger generation of farmers by finding ways to make it a more social endeaver.
Broadcast the Message Rebrand farming and agriculture related businesses to connect with new com-munities. Leverage traditional and new media channels to deepen emotional connections with agricultural ventures.
The Frame
FARMING NOW
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 5 / FARMING NOW
The Challenge
1. How might we recreate a renewed belief and deep sense of purpose among farming communities?
2. How might we create peri-urban farming areas that draw young people by providing opportunities that cities offer and ultimately help feed cities more efficiently?
Voices From the Forum
“ We need to start thinking about investing more in small scale farmers; that props up agricultural systems and those economies.”
Examples
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 6
DECODINGDATA
Google Flu Trends exemplifies actionable data. By pairing flu search queries with geographic information, this service estimates the incidence of flu symptoms and visualizes the impact on regions around the world. With real-time estimates of flu activity, this service enables anyone with an internet connection to see where rates are significantly increasing and take steps to stay healthy. It also empowers public health officials to take action and deploy resources when needed.
GOOD magazine has emerged as a leader in infographic data in the U.S. By intuitively visualizing the key aspects of complex data, it communicates information clearly and effectively. It’s infographics put data to work for a popular audience, translating our expanded ability to track and quantify data to share new insight about who we are and how we live in the world around us.
Examples
The Context
We face crises in food and water security but have few mechanisms to motivate and direct ground-level action. Knowledge sharing networks have emerged to prevent pandemics and safeguard against the impact of climate change. Still, for all the data we’ve amassed, we have yet to create impactful data-driven systems.
Voices From the Forum
“ Which services are most effective based on the data—linking job training, tracking tallies, creating greater foresight…because we don’t know where the next great ideas are going to come from.”
Make Data Communicate Create transparent data systems that make the implications of today’s challenges clear. Allow data to live beyond institutional walls where it can empower people and promote robust policy.
Imagine 10Identify the top ten data points that yield the most actionable insights. Build a framework to support those insights and direct action. Put data to work where it’s most needed.
The Frame
DECODING DATA
Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Forum / Challenge 6 / DECODING DATA
1. Data’s a language. How might we ensure that it’s one that everyone understands?
2. With a noisy universe of data out there, how might we focus on what’s most useful and actionable?
