In the past few weeks, I have been deeply focused on my group's final project and in preparing for our final presentation. My team and I had been working hard to make sure we were covering the relevant aspects and elements that needed to be addressed in the scope of our project, entitled "Conceptualizing & Prototyping an Online Platform for Collaboration in Social Innovation".
All smiles on the day we completed our final project presentations!
Throughout the process, we learned various lessons on social innovation, creating our business model canvas, gaining in-depth knowledge on how online platforms attract and retain members, and so on. But as important as the knowledge we obtained, we also managed to build strong bonds between us as team mates and friends. It was an exciting topic that truly peaked each of the diverse interests we had, and gave us an enriching learning experience. I am extremely happy to have worked with such fun and dedicated people. :)
Yesterday, on 19 July 2012, my classmates and I, along with students from other Masters' programmes, finally walked up the stage at EOI to receive our diplomas on Graduation Day! We encountered an emotional mix of feelings as we celebrated our success in completing the Master's, but also in realising that it marked the end of our time spent together as students (and international family) under the IMSD programme. Needless to say, I am very grateful to have been given the great
opportunity to learn about Sustainable Development & CSR at EOI in
Madrid, and with the diverse classmates I have come to know as good
friends. Equipped with what we have learned from our professors and from
one another, we shall continue to pursue our individual dreams and
ambitions in the same field. I take comfort in knowing that my comrades
and I will be pursuing similar
goals and visions that center on making our communities and world a
better place, and thus look forward to our paths crossing again in the
near future.
Congratulations and best wishes to all my fellow classmates and friends at EOI on your future endeavours!
As I face the last
stages of my Master's programme on Sustainable Development and CSR here in Madrid, I have been
extremely occupied in these past few weeks with my group's final project and
preparation of our final presentation. The theme for the topic of our project
is centered on social innovation. Perhaps some day I will give you a sneak peek
of what our project is about, but for today, I would like to highlight what I
learned about a social enterprise from one of the courses we attended on social
entrepreneurship.
First of all, some of you may be wondering what a social entrepreneur is. Well,
there are many definitions out there and different people have a different
understanding of what this term means since the use of the term became more
popular in recent times. For now, we will refer to the definition provided by Ashoka:
"Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s
most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling
major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than
leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social
entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the
system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new
leaps. Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas,
committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both
visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation
of their vision above all else."
A mission to innovate, play and empower
With the 2012
Eurocup Finals looming around the corner, I thought I would post here an
example of a social enterprise, Unchartered Play, that was co-founded by Jessica O.
Matthews and Julia Silverman. What started off as one of their class projects
at Harvard College developed into an innovative
product named SOCCKET that holds the potential to address social and, to some
extent, environmental issues as well.
According to the company's website, Soccket is a soccer ball (or football) that
generates energy as it is kicked around. The clean electricity is produced
through kinetic energy and stored in the battery of the ball. It has a little
socket that allows for small electronic devices such as lamps, water purifier,
and cellphone chargers to be plugged in and powered. This is how Soccket
functions as a toy and as the first portable generator that comes in the form
of a soccer ball. Thirty minutes of play would be able to power an LED lamp for
three hours. It may not seem like much but it makes a world of difference for
people who live in areas where energy infrastructure is poor or not available.
At the moment, Soccket weighs four ounces more than conventional soccer balls,
but the developers are hoping to reduce its weight with the use of lightweight
materials.
Through their
innovative thinking and design, the enterprise was able to successfully combine
the function of play and the need to address a pressing issue faced by more
than 1 billion people in the world, who rely on kerosene lamps to light up
their homes after dark.
The enterprise seems to make efforts in trying to meet the needs of the
end-user, and its team has begun developing several other products with early
engagement to understand the people’s needs. They also immersed themselves in
the environments that their users live in to appreciate and comprehend their
daily lives and routines. Matthews, who is CEO of Uncharted Play, states that
3,000 of these balls will be distributed this year to Mexico, El Salvador,
Costa Rica, Haiti, and South Africa.
They have also begun collaborating with partners across the globe. One in
particular is linked to Huecco, who is a Spanish singer that established an
organization called Fundación Dame Vida. This foundation functions to
distribute Soccket to energy-impoverished areas. The plan is to donate
royalties from the record sales of Huecco’s album entitled "Dame Vida"
for manufacturing and distributing these balls that are referred to in Spanish
as “el balón con luz” (the ball with light) or “el balón verde” (the green
ball). The foundation is working to distribute Dame Vida Soccket balls so that
one family will get one ball. The singer’s celebrity status has successfully
managed to attract football stars and other sports stars to participate in
promoting the cause of his foundation and through the sales of his album, 500
balls have been manufactured thus far.
Matthews stated
that she and her team are working to become the “Apple” of social enterprises.
Unchartered Play is only one year old and although it has managed to receive a
lot of media exposure, praises from well-known public figures, and funding from
other organizations, it is still a startup business that is continuously
looking for funding and investors. Since the production and distribution of
Soccket, the enterprise is still in the process of monitoring the impacts of
the balls on the communities that received them.
However, there could be some challenges faced with distributing Soccket in such
poor, impoverished communities. One would be with regard to what would happen
after the product wears out or exceeds its battery life. Some questions that came
up in my mind as I was researching on this enterprise and their breakthrough
product are: After the ball "expires", what happens then to the
beneficiaries who have been relying on it as their portable generator? Would
more balls be sent over to these poor communities? Is there some way
for the old batteries to be replaced with new ones? If yes, how would the poor
communities go about doing it? If not, how would they dispose of these portable
generators in the safest way, with the least impact on their health and
environment? I ask these questions because Matthews mentioned at the Clinton
Global Initiative that the latest version of Soccket has been built to last up
to 3 years. Thus, although I like their innovative product and the ideas behind
it, I hope Unchartered Play has kept those issues in mind and are finding ways
to address them. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the development of the
enterprise's project involving this product and would like to see if there has
been any notable improvements or benefits gained in the communities where
Soccket has been introduced.
Click below to watch the
promotional video of SOCCKET:
And the official music video
of “Dame Vida” by Huecco:
When discussing the elements and processes involved in sustainable development, recent times have seen much emphasis placed on the need for innovative solutions. There are many methods of innovation used to produce products or services that help serve the needs of society, reduce human impact on the environment, and provide businesses with streams of revenue and market opportunities.
Here, I would like to share some of the content I posted for a blog assignment in one class I attended on Innovation. The assignment originated from one of our class activities in which we were instructed to
contribute our ideas on how to make EOI more sustainable. We were given passwords that enabled us to log on to an online platform
where we could state our ideas and elaborate on the vision we had in
mind. The ideas we uploaded were then shared with students from our
class and with those from other Masters programmes at EOI. We
commented and added on the ideas proposed by our colleagues, which
resulted in a sort of online brainstorming where we were able to
exchange thoughts and recommendations on the proposed ideas.
Through participating in this activity, I learned about the concept
of “Open Innovation”. The term was coined by Chesbrough in his book “Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology”
(2003). It derives from the notion that companies have begun shifting
from “closed innovation” processes towards a more open approach to
innovation due to several factors. These factors include the increase of
mobility and availability of highly-educated people, significant
increase in availability of venture capital, and also the important
roles of other companies in the supply chain. This new model of
innovation differs from the traditional model, which placed more emphasis on research and development laboratories. The process of the
traditional model involved trimming down large numbers of ideas and
concepts and selecting a few that was considered to best meet the
requirements of the company. According to openinnovation.eu, Open
Innovation functions differently as it works on “combining internal and
external ideas as well as internal and external paths to market to
advance the development of new technologies.”
Closed Innovation
Open Innovation
There are, in fact, many companies out there that have been and still
are actively using open innovation in their business models. According to a Forbes article by Raul Chao,
there are many modes of open innovation used in delivering new
products, services, and processes. He states that perhaps an expanded
interpretation of open innovation may include user-innovation and lead
user methodologies, innovation ecosystems and platform innovation
models, co-development and short-term non-equity alliances, innovation
contests and tournaments, and crowd-sourcing or "the wisdom of crowds".
This concept of collaborating and innovating together to produce a
product or service that improves customers’ experience and satisfies their
expectations is a very interesting approach that a company could adopt.
It shows how businesses could benefit by sharing ideas and
collaborating through open innovation to not only gain profit, but also
add value and make a difference in the lives of their customers through
their innovative products.
Click below to watch a video of Mr. Chesbrough himself explaining the concept and processes of "Open Innovation":
Earlier this week, I attended an open conference at EOI on U.S. Climate Change Policies. Our guest speaker of the day is currently attached to the United States Embassy in Madrid. With his background and expertise on environment and climate change, Mr. Ari Nathan gave us a one-and-a-half-hour talk on the evolution of climate talks in the international arena and the latest scenario of climate change politics that has taken place in the U.S. between Democrats and Republicans.
The overall theme of the talk was centered on the reasons why the U.S. has not been able to truly establish climate change policies. The answer, he says, is China. The story goes that the U.S., as the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world, has refused to commit to international agreements on emissions reduction as long as there are no equal levels of commitment from emerging economies such as China. Under the Kyoto Protocol, economic powerhouses China and India (which have signed and ratified the treaty) are not obligated to reduce GHG emissions as they are considered developing nations. Although then President Bill Clinton had signed the treaty in 1997, the Senate voted against ratifying it, citing that it could bring damage to the U.S economy.
Mr. Nathan also explained that another barrier in forming climate change policies in the U.S. is due to the fact that approximately two-thirds of Republicans think that climate change does not exist, while Democrats argue otherwise. Hence, the topic of climate change has become a partisan issue that is resulting in the polarization of climate change debates and perceptions. The general view is that if a political representative is a Republican, he/she would be expected to think of climate change as a myth; on the other hand, if one is a Democrat, he/she would be expected to see climate change as an issue affecting the world that needs to be addressed. This scenario, of course, directly influences public opinion as people begin choosing sides and associating themselves strongly with the stance of their preferred party, oftentimes without sufficient knowledge or understanding of the complex science behind climate change and the diverse findings of scientific research in this field of study.
Our speaker stated that the abovementioned factors are a few reasons why, in the last two
years, the U.S President's State of the Union has shied away from mentioning
climate change or global warming. Instead, President Barack Obama has opted to speak more on
job opportunities in the green economy, building sources of clean energy, promoting innovation, and increasing energy efficiency in order to compete against Europe and China.
The speaker also talked briefly about how recent international climate negotiations are making efforts to engage developing
nations and especially emerging economies through an "energy-efficiency" approach on the issue - the idea that climate change agreements need
not necessarily mean that a country would be forced to stop developing or
slow down its economy to lower emissions, but that it could be advantageous to the country's economy and to the development of the region. The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action has succeeded in getting the U.S., India, and China on board to agreeing on reducing GHG emissions. However, India & China's stance to allow for a more loose treaty clashed with the EU's insistance on introducing a legal instrument that would force all countries to comply with emissions reduction. At the end, the negotiations resulted in a compromise on an “agreed
outcome with legal force”, which is considered to be a vague and uncertain phrase in the Durban Platform.
Overall, the talk with our expert speaker was engaging but it felt brief because the juicy parts of the debate, which could have had potential to spark stimulating discussions arrived towards the end of the presentation - just as Mr. Nathan was beginning to get into the politicization of climate change in the U.S.
The takeaway from the conference is that while the U.S. may not seem to have implemented proper climate change policies, it has expressed commitment in reducing its emissions. The Obama administration is claiming to take actions to fully support the strategy of moving towards a green economy that has potential to generate employment and contribute to growth and development.
As for the upcoming Presidential elections, it is obvious that the debate on climate change is still expressed as a partisan issue, which is why Mitt Romney's flip-flopping stance on the topic holds political risks that analysts say may result in loss of trust amongst voters.
Click below to watch an excerpt from President Obama's 2012 State of the Union:
I would like to begin my new blog by
introducing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because I noticed
during my time in class that we often refer back to these goals when
discussing about issues regarding Sustainable Development. I believe
that's it's important to keep them in mind when planning the next
strategic step towards sustainability.
What are the MDGs?
At
the beginning of the new millennium, world leaders agreed to the UN
Millennium Declaration, which set the foundation for the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are eight development goals with 21
targets that are set to be achieved by member states by the year 2015.
These
goals serve as a blueprint for measuring the progress of global
development. On the “Day of 7 Billion”, the United Nations’
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, stated:
“Our
world is one of terrible contradictions. Plenty of food but one billion
people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many
others. Huge advances in medicine while mothers die everyday in
childbirth, and children die every day from drinking dirty water.
Billions spent on weapons to kill people instead of keeping them safe.”
For
this reason, the MDG is crucial in keeping track of countries’ progress
as it holds them accountable and pushes leaders to set global and
national priorities, as well as measures to follow up on their
countries’ goals for development. According to the recent MDG report,
economic growth has increased in some developing countries and
international funding has resulted in expansion of programmes that
delivers services and resources to those most in need. As we move
closer to the due date, skeptics are beginning to question whether
countries are going to be able to achieve the MDGs, especially in the
midst of the current economic downturn. There is still much work to be
done and many issues concerning implementation barriers that need to be
resolved.
The Call for SDGs
The Rio+20 Earth Summit
plays a role in continuing the efforts achieved through the MDGs as
there have been growing support for suggestions on introducing a set of
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on the lessons learned
from the MDGs, the SDGs could be the new basis for redefining the MDGs
and to pick up where it will leave off.
According to a Rio 2012
Issues Briefs, there are currently no internationally agreed sustainable
development indicators that would help to monitor the progress of SDGs
as there is no single, universally accepted definition or assessment
metrics for sustainable development. This will pose as one of the
challenges for member states to agree upon the best indicators that
could be used to measure SDGs.
Although
the Millennium Declaration will still be relevant in the post-2015
development agenda, much thought and consideration need to be given to
the linkages between SDGs and MDGs. There must also be agreement on how
to develop a possible set of indicators to measure progress of the SDGs. Together with the proposals from member states and the tentative blueprint, I
think that through collective efforts and collaboration, there is great
potential for the SDGs to help advance development in the developing
countries and also bring benefits to the developed world. Additionally, as the world begins to embrace the concept of Green Economy, I believe that new market opportunities will present itself for the upcoming
generation of green talents and social entrepreneurs.
