Organising for systems innovation at scale
We live in a time of great change. We face systemic challenges from food to energy to justice and our business-as-usual practices need to shift if we are going to contribute to these grand challenges. The question we hear more and more is how? How can we make those system-wide shifts?
The scale of the multiple crises we face requires us to frame the immense effort needed in a way that helps us to believe it is possible. And to act collaboratively at multiple levels, in diverse spaces, simultaneously, aligned with that belief.
Challenge-led Innovation is one way we’re learning towards this with our partners.
Learning our way into Challenge-led Innovation
Though Challenge-led Innovation has been around for sometime, it has experienced somewhat of a renaissance in the last few years, mostly thanks to the work of Mariana Mazzucato, who calls it 'Mission-led' innovation.
Mazzucato uses the story of the moonshot mission to illustrate the power of directional innovation to coalesce participation from diverse sectors towards achieving ambitious goals. Goals such as the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which require cross-sector, top-down and bottom up innovation. Our Challenge-led Innovation approach is similar with some distinctions that you can learn more about in our Workbook.
Our framework
We agree a framework that shapes action around diverse 'challenges' is what we need to create coherent political narratives, compelling R&D agendas, catalysts for convening civic movements, and platforms for collaborative, cross-sector innovation.
Much more than 'another strategy framework' we're working with partners to:
- visualise and make sense of the multiple learning and innovation projects required across sectors that are needed to enable diverse actors to organise around directional goals and complex challenges;
- recognise and align work across sectors and fields that will be needed to advance action towards bold goals, creating focus around high-leverage areas for intervention to address complex issues;
- and create a sense of coherence across ecosystems, sectors and actors so that collective intelligence can be harnessed towards addressing challenges.
Photo credit: Climate Visuals, a Climate Outreach project
Challenge-led Innovation Workbook
Challenge-led Innovation
Using various mechanisms to focus, align and direct innovations across diverse fields and sections towards addressing the key issues of our times.
Bold
A bold approach to innovation that redirects the core focus towards creating better economic, social and environmental outcomes.
Intentional
Using all levers and power to direct innovation towards those outcomes. All sectors have a role to play and innovation is democratised.
Rethinking
Rethinking the fundamentals. A new risk mindset focused on shared risks and rewards plus learning and experimentation approaches.
Platform
A platform drawing together all actors and stakeholders needed to innovate towards better outcomes, stimulating collective intelligence.
Coherent
Coherent portfolios of projects across sectors where focus is cooperation for outcomes and actions not sector coordination.
Our approach
At the centre of our framework is a Challenge-led Innovation Map, shifting and changing as your work develops.
- A directional goal provides the direction of your intent and ambition
- Challenges are coherent fields of action and innovation that create momentum towards your goal
- Portfolios of projects are sets of interconnected innovation projects that together provide part of the learning needed to achieve a challenge
We approach the challenge map as a navigational learning document. The map and the mapping process help us to visualise relationships and grow our capability to 'see' both the intention and the complexity of experiments that could encourage learning towards your directional goal.
