I work with Reos Partners the social enterprise and non-profit consultancy helping people respond effectively to complex social challenges. We believe that diverse groups of people acting together can achieve extraordinary results.
Project LIFE in India has delivered over 30 years of charitable service in the fields of health, education and the environment. To ensure its innovation culture does not die out I was asked to introduce a monthly creative workshop. This will bring together managers and field workers across the organisation around specific challenges in ideation and prototyping sessions.
Am on the judging panel for the UNDP Equator Prize 2012. $275,000 will be awarded to 25 outstanding local initiatives that are working to advance sustainable development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities. They will also be participating in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Brazil.
“ There is an urgent need to do things differently. In response social innovation is a rapidly growing practice and an emerging academic discipline.
— Published some of my insights about “The Social Innovation Process” in the International Journal of Technology Management with Dr. Fiona Lettice.
Brave New Collaboration was a learning journey to the USA during the summer of 2008 with sustainable designer Ed Murfitt. We were funded by NESTA to take our cameras and interview some of the emerging pioneers of online collaboration.
Seed funded by UNICEF, I project managed a global team across six cities to co-design, develop and launch a site for collaboration and sharing knowledge in the field of of mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies and situations of extreme stress. It uniquely connects practitioners, organisations, academics and service users around the world working in this field.
Secret Seed Society is making healthy green living simple and fun for children. It connects a young audience with food by creating a fantasy world full of vegetable beings. I am working with Shena & Amy Cooper to bring this venture to life.
Every product has a story. Worn Again is a pioneering upcycling company making new design-led products from corporate waste materials. Check out their new Virgin and Eurostar range of bags and jackets. It is an exciting new business model, with excellent growth potential. I have been a non-exec member of the board.
Myoo Create is a community for environmental and social innovation – where people can come together and apply their talents to challenges that matter to them. The premise is that “nobody is smarter than everybody” and so collaboration is key. I helped design the open innovation principles of the platform - great to see it up and running now.
Collaboration is a powerful skill, made tonnes easier by the social media web. Together with a few other researchers in this area we are working to understand and share emerging practice for connecting, and co-creating with others. The aim is to get all our peers in the sustainability movement to become collaboration ninjas.
I designed and delivered two ‘insight journeys’ for the Innovation Exchange in order to help identify opportunities to solve complex problems such as excluded young people or independent living. The faciliation and filming was led by Amy Cooper.
In March 2009 I did a short study into the benefits of fairtrade organic cotton farming with Zameen Organics in India. In Maharashtra there is a ‘suicide belt’, where 26 farmers reportedly commit suicide every day because of debts they can’t repay.
Click through to see a systems map illustrating both the assumptions that keep us driving cars and the new realities that are challenging this highly unsustainable paradigm. I designed and presented this at the launch of WWF’s One Planet Mobility report in Sep 2008. Illustration was by Lucy Blackwell.
Disruptive social innovation is what happens when the heart of an entire system is challenged by a brave new idea. In 2008 I facilitated with Nick Jankel a series of 10 monthly knowledge sessions attended by innovators from across all sectors. Using real-case studies we studied a wide range of inspiring examples from the worlds of healthcare and media to transport.
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