Sustainable innovation in ABCD

A simple, step by step innovation process

-Joris Depouillon-

Outline

• Introduction 7’• The challenge 5’• ABCD sustainable innovation process: 190’

– Awareness: 30’– Baseline assessment: 45’

• Principles of sustainability• Sustainability assessment

BREAK: 10’– Create solutions: 60’– Decide on priorities: 45’

• minimum Viable Product

• Best practices: 10’• Questions and Feedback: 13’

The challenge (5’)

• Madame Ekobié• Situation économique• House

Challenge

• Traditional building– Wood was rotting– Collapsed

Challenge

• Solution– Roof in tin– Cost – Now worn out

ABCD sustainable innovation process

• Awareness• Baseline assessment– Principles of sustainability– Sustainability assessment

• Create solutions• Decide on priorities– minimum viable product

(A) Awareness (30’)

• Existing challenge or search your challenge– Identify one need you want to tackle– Go to a community– Ask the right questions• What are the greatest socio-environmental challenges

in the community?• Why are these socio-environmental challenges and

unsatisfied needs present in the community?• How will the community look like if these challenges

where addressed successfully?

(A) Awareness

• Existing challenge or search your challenge• Get to know your challenge– What is the need you want to fulfill?

• E.g. waste on the street

• Get to know the context– Dig into the need– the current solution and its dynamics– Who what, where, when (5)why– What are opportunities/assets? What are weaknesses?

• Physical, knowledge, skills, community…

(A) Awareness

• Role: Explorer– Go out and observe the need and the current

solution to the need– Talk to, Listen and learn from the people and

community• Dig deeper– 5 WHY?!• Ask questions until you are at the root cause

(A) Awareness

• Output: – Definition of the need– Definition of the current solution– Understanding of the context– Vision of a better solution

(A) Our Challenge

• Talk to– Madame Ekobié – Other villagers– The leaders of the village

• Find additonal information– Reports– Experts

(A) Our Challenge

• Former houses– bush timber for roof and load-bearing

construction• Problem timber– Population growth– Deforestation– Climate change

(A) Our Challenge

• Current solution– Import tin sheets– Import foreign wood from

tropical forest• Implications

– Health: bad thermal properties. Too hot during day, too cold during night.– Safety: tin roofs can be blown away by strong wind, damaged by rain

(corrosion)– Economic

• have to pay material in cash – informal economy. Use little savings for materials instead of schooling, health etc. 65% of her savings

• Structure has to be replaced every 7 to 10 yearsÞ vicious circle of poverty

– Roofs are thrown away in nature after use

(A) Our Challenge

• Background information and context– UN report: in Sahel, 70% lacks access to decent

and safe housing. – Survey: people see this as the second most

important priority after paid work and before access to water.

(A) Awareness

• Output– Definition of the need – Definition of the current solution– Understanding of the situation• Why current solution?• Scale of the problem?• Importance?

– Vision of a better solution

(A) Our Challenge

• Output– Definition of the need:

• People need shelter to offer protection from external circumstances (temperature, animals, wind, other people)

– Definition of the current solution: • Currently, people make their shelters from earth walls, imported wood and a

thin layer of tin for the roof.

– Understanding of the context: • deforestation• High priority• Large scale problem: 70% of people lacks decent shelter

– Vision of a better solution• Vision: A new way of housing should be locally sourced, affordable/economic,

safe, healthy, environmentally sustainable, longer lifespan

(A) Do it Yourself!

• Definition of the need • Definition of the current solution• Understanding of the situation– Why current solution?– Scale of the problem?– Importance?

• Vision of a better solution

(B) Baseline Assessment (45’)

• Define principles of sustainability• Assess today’s solution to these principles

(B) Sustainability

• Sustainable development– "Sustainable development is development that

meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

• A movie

(B) Sustainability

• Sustainability challenges– Climate change– People forced into migration– Water scarcity– Biodiversity loss– Air pollution– Rising sea levels, floods, extreme weather events– Loss of soil fertility

(B) Sustainability

• A day in the life of Joris– Woke up and took a long shower– Worked on his laptop to prepare the workshop– Ate a tagine with eggs and beef– Drove to the workshop by taxi– Is giving the workshop in a well-heated room

Climate change Water scarcity Biodiversity loss

shower

laptop

tajine

taxi

Heating

(B) Sustainability

Climate change Water scarcity Biodiversity loss

Shower Heating water by gas Water is scarce? Waste water?

laptop Transport, electricity Mining mining

tajine Cows Meat + vegetables Agriculture, pesticides

taxi Gasoline washing?

Heating Gas/coal/oil/wood Mining / wood

(B) Sustainability

(B) Sustainability

• Rule of thumb. A society is sustainable if it is not systematically – Extracting non-renewable resources– Increasing waste– Using renewable resources faster than nature can

renew them – Undermine people’s capacity to meet human

needs

(B) Sustainability

• A society is sustainable if it is not systematically extracting non-renewable resources

• = the systematic increase of concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth's crust– metal ores– Chemicals (e.g. Western Sahara)– Energy

(B) Sustainability

• A society is sustainable if it is not systematically increasing waste

• = the systematic increase of concentrations of substances produced by society – Pollution of water, earth, …

• Eg. DDT• Eg. plastics

– Greenhouse Gases: climate change.• Extreme weather events• Rising sea level

(B) Sustainability

• A society is sustainable if it is not systematically using renewable resources faster than nature can renew them

• = the systematic physical degradation of nature and natural processes – Overharvesting forest• Eg. Rainforest => enhancing climate change

– Overfishing– Destroying habitats

(B) Sustainability

• A society is sustainable if it is not systematically undermine people’s capacity to meet human needs– unsafe working conditions– Insufficient payment for work– Unhealthy living circumstances– Child labour– …

(B) Baseline Assessment

• Assess today’s solution– Is it respecting or violating the four principles of

sustainability?– Search beyond than the obvious

(B) Baseline AssessmentCriterium Violating? How?Non-renewable resourcesWaste

Renewable resources

Human needs

(B) Example smartphones

• Awareness phase: a movie. • Note down all violations

(B) Example smartphonesCriterium Respecting / violating? How?Non-renewable resourcesWaste

Renewable resources

Human needs

(B) Example smartphonesCriterium Respecting / violating? How?Non-renewable resources

-Raw materials: Ta, Co, Cu-fossil fuels for transport-chemicals-energy to use smartphone

Waste -Chemicals to extract metals from ore-short lifespan: quick new models, no reparation, apps latest model, mobile providers-heavy metals in waste-no efficient recycling system

Renewable resources -Surface mining: destroying habitats large areas of land

Human needs -Mines: long hours, low wages, protection-Mines: financing civil warsManufacturing: long hours, no social rights, unhealthy conditions (suicides)

(B) Our Challenge• Baseline assessment current housing solution

with imported wood and metal

Criterium Violating? How?Non-renewable resourcesWaste

Renewable resources

Human needs

(B) Our ChallengeNon-renewable resources - Extract Tin ore

- Energy for producing the tin - oil for transportation to import

Waste - waste metal after 7-10 years- thrown away in nature instead of recycled

Renewable resources - uses wood (imported)

Human needs - takes the money for schooling, food and medicine- unhealthy due to bad insulation- dangerous because roof can be blown away by wind

(B) Do it YourselfCriterium Respecting / violating? How?Non-renewable resourcesWaste

Renewable resources

Human needs

(C) Create Solutions (60’)

• What possible alternatives / improvements could be made to eliminate the violations of the principles of sustainability?

(C) Create Solutions

• General brainstorm principles– Use each other’s ideas– No constraints– Don’t limit yourself

• Have a facilitator– Asks the right questions– Challenges the participants– Make sure the principles are respected

• Write things down on post-its– Can be rearranged afterwards

(C) Create Solutions

1. Violation brainstorming– Take each violation of the principles of sustainability

and think of a way to overcome the violation– This can be done by

• Reduction of violation. – Eg. Make a fossil fuel engine car use less energy

• Substitution of practice to – Eg. Use solar energy to fuel your car

– 5WHY: for each reason, find a solution– Link the different elements

– Note: not every problem has feasible solution

Sustainability Croteroa

violation Root cause (5WHY) solution

Non-renewables

Waste

Renewable

Basic needs

(C) Example smartphonesCriterium Respecting / violating? How?Non-renewable resources

-Raw materials: Ta, Co, Cu-fossil fuels for transport-chemicals-energy to use smartphone

Waste -Chemicals to extract metals from ore-short lifespan: quick new models, no reparation, apps latest model, mobile providers-heavy metals in waste-no efficient recycling system

Renewable resources -Surface mining: destroying habitats large areas of land

Human needs -Mines: long hours, low wages, protection-Mines: financing civil warsManufacturing: long hours, no social rights, unhealthy conditions (suicides)

Sustainability Croteroa

violation Root cause (5WHY) solution

Non-renewables

-Raw materials: Ta, Co, Cu-fossil fuels for transport-chemicals-energy to use smartphone

Waste -Chemicals to extract metals from ore-short lifespan: quick new models, no reparation, apps latest model, mobile providers-heavy metals in waste-no efficient recycling system

Renewable

-Surface mining: destroying habitats large areas of land

Basic needs

-Mines: long hours, low wages, protection-Mines: financing civil warsManufacturing: long hours, no social rights, unhealthy conditions (suicides)

Sustainability Croteroa

violation Root cause (5WHY) solution

Non-renewables

-Raw materials: Ta, Co, Cu-fossil fuels for transport-chemicals

-energy to use smartphone

-no recylcing of metals-no local production, wages too high here, profit comes first

-create recycling scheme-local production

-make smartphones more efficient

Waste -Chemicals to extract metals from ore-short lifespan: quick new models, no reparation, apps latest model, mobile providers-heavy metals in waste-no efficient recycling system

-no recycling

-profit always comes first

- Very difficult recycling process

-create non-profit manufacturer

-create recycling schemes

Renewable

-Surface mining: destroying habitats large areas of land

-no ethics in mining, profit comes first

-create cooperative mining company

Basic needs

-Mines: long hours, low wages, protection-Mines: financing civil warsManufacturing: long hours, no social rights, unhealthy conditions (suicides)

-Apples don’t care, they want highest profit, customers don’t care-governments want jobs

-push Apples-make customers aware-push governments

(C) Create Solutions

2. Vision Brainstorming– Ask for each element of your vision how to fulfill

this element.– «Give me ten ways to make ‘housing’

sustainable!»– E.g. Vision Smartphone• Locally produced• Build to last• Everyone gets fairly paid• sustainable

(C) Create Solutions

3. Best practices– What best practices do you know already?• Related sectors• Similar context

– How to adapt the solution to this context?• What are the elements that are useful in our case?• How can we adapt them to our context?

(C) Create SolutionsExample smartphone• Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working

conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world

• The sustainable electronics initiative. By analyzing the complete life cycle of a product, SEI will take into consideration the design, processing, manufacturing, use, and disposal stages of electronic equipment. With the use of life cycle analyses, SEI plans to make the overall process of computers and other electronics more sustainable and less environmentally harmful.

(C) Create Solutions

4. Criteria backcasting– Environmental– Social needs

• Food, water• Security• Employment• Health• education

– Economic• Who will earn money?• Who will cut costs?• Who needs it the most?

(C) Create Solutions

4. Criteria backcasting– Self-sustaining: how can local communities

implement the solution without external inputs?• How to make the solution spread?• Supply of materials• Training• Incentive (making money?)

(C) Create Solutions

How to make improve smartphones in these criteria:– Environmental– Social– Economic– Self-sustaining

(C) Create Solutions

• Finally: linking up– Use 4 categories to put all post-its in:• Environmental• Social• Economic• Self-sustaining

– Combine different elements and solutions• Put post-its in different criteria (ecological, social,

economic, self-sustaining)• Try to see which elements are combinable• Link up different elements to attain different solutions

(C) Our Challenge

• Use the different brainstorming techniques– Violation brainstorming– Vision brainstorming– Bast practices– Criteria backcasting

• Linking up

Sustainability Croteroa

violation Root cause (5WHY)

solution

Non-renewables

- Extract Tin ore- Energy for producing the tin - oil for transportation to import

Waste - waste metal after 7-10 years- thrown away in nature instead of

recycled

Renewable - uses wood (imported)

Basic needs - takes the money for schooling, food and medicine

- unhealthy due to bad insulation- dangerous because roof can be

blown away by wind

(C) Our Challenge

2. Vision Brainstorming– Ask for each element of your vision how to fulfill

this element.– «Give me ten ways to make ‘housing’ sustainable!»– Vision

• Vision – locally sourced– Affordable– Safe– healthy

3. Best practices– What best practices do you know already?– How to adapt the solution to this context?• What are the elements that are useful in our case?• How can we adapt them to our context?

(C) Our Challenge

4. Criteria backcasting– (Environmental)– Social needs

• Food, water• Security• Employment• Health• education

– Economic• Who will earn money?• Who will cut costs?• Who needs it the most?

(C) Our Challenge

4. Criteria backcasting– Self-sustaining: how can local communities

implement the solution without external inputs?• How to make the solution spread?• Supply of materials• Training• Incentive (making money?)

(C) Our Challenge

• Finally: linking up– Combine different elements and solutions• Put post-its in different criteria (ecological, social,

economic, self-sustaining)• Try to see which elements are combinable• Link up different elements to attain different solutions

(C) Our Challenge

(D) Decide on priorities (45’)

• Evaluate concepts developed during (C)=> Choose solution you want to develop

• Think of a Minimum Viable Product=> Test your solution asap

(D) Evaluate

• Set your criteria– Basic set of criteria• Non-renewables• Waste• Renewables• Basic human needs• Economic

– You can add your own criteria. Cf. Enactus• Self-sustaining (<-> sustainable)

(D) Evaluate

• How to use criteria?– Discuss each criterium (most important!)– Score each criterium• Respects the criterium: +1• Neutral to criterium: 0• Violates criterium: -1

– Sum the score– Rank the solutions– Choose your solution

Non-renewables

Waste Renewables

Basic human needs

Potential and flexibility

economic

Self-sustaining

SCORE

Sol 1

Sol 2

Sol 3

Sol 4

…

(D) Our Challenge

• Evaluate• Minimum Viable Product

Non-renewables

Waste Renewables

Basic human needs

Potential and flexibility

economic

Self-sustaining

SCORE

Sol 1

Sol 2

Sol 3

Sol 4

…

Non-renewables

Waste Renewables

Basic human needs

Potential and flexibility

economic

Self-sustaining

SCORE

Double layer of iron with earth in between

-1 -1 0 +1 -1 -1 0 -3

Use earth to make roofs

+1 +1 +1 0 -1 +1 0 +3

Make bricks locally and teach other people

+1 +1 +1 0 +1 +1 + +6

Buy bricks to make roof

-1 +1 +1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -3

…

(D) Minimum Viable Product

• Your solution in its most basic concept – A prototype with the most basic features– “that product which has just those features and no more

that allows you to ship a product that early adopters see and, at least some of whom resonate with, pay you money for, and start to give you feedback on”

– The MVP is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least efforts.

• Movie

(D) Minimum Viable Product

• minimum what?– Use this to experiment and get feedback• Test the most basic functions• With a group of intensive users / early adopters• Get feedback• Improve• Redesign MVP

– Do this ASAP

(D) minimum Viable Product

• Example Dropbox– The MVP: a movie of how is his product would look

like with fake screenshots– Posted on the internet– Made it go viral– Got feedback from viewers to see what most

interesting features were– Got 70k signups for a product he had not made yet

• Was enough proof of concept to attract investors

(D) minimum Viable Product

• Examples– ‘Food on the Table’ (website) provides easy weekly

recipe and grocery lists based on sales at your store

– A new BMW model– Online shoe sellin

(D) minimum Viable Product

• Benefits– Know your target group– Their preferences– Detect most important features– Don’t waste time developing a product which is

not useful

(D) Our Challenge

• minimum Viable Product– Most essential features?

(D) Our Challenge

• minimum Viable Product– Phase 1: Try to make building material from local

resources. Eg. Produce first bricks– Phase 2: Try to build a first small building out of

that material– Ask people to live in it for a week– Gather feedback

(D) Do it yourself

• minimum Viable Product– Most essential features?

Best Practices

• Possible solutions to the case studies

The FairPhone (10’)

• The Fairphone

La Voute Nubienne

• Association La Voute Nubienne– un maçon français, Thomas Granier, et un

cultivateur burkinabé, Séri Youlou– Processus• old technique for building with water and earth• Make sun-dried bricks

La Voute Nubienne

• Result– safe, sturdy, well-insulated vaulted roofs of mud

bricks– Lower cost– Life span of 50 years– Safe

• Realization: – 800 buildings: houses (85%), schools, community

center

La Voute Nubienne

• Started with a basic solution. Now have a global solution: Roof + Skill + Market– a construction technique for appropriate roofs– built professionally by masons with the

necessary skills• On site training and recruiting

– as part of emerging and actively promoted markets in affordable housing• Self-sustaining

Contacts

• Email: joris.depouillon@gmail.com• Blog: http://jorisdepouillon.blogspot.com/• Facebook: Joris Depouillon• Twitter: @JorisDepouillon