Workshop archives for April, 2005

Articles about business, poverty, and innovation in the the Base of the Pyramid (BOP), the 4+ billion people living in the base of the world's economic pyramid. Suggest an article or story.

The Power of Play - Pumping Water in Africa

Posted Thu, 04/28/2005 - 17:19 by Patrick@BRINQ

Remember how much fun spinning around on a playground merry-go-round was when we were kids?

In our recent article, Capturing the Unexpected Innovation, we included a picture from a story we knew we had to chase down (see image right). Thankfully, just as we were looking for more, BBC News ran the article, "Why pumping water is child's play".

"It's a positive displacement water pump, and as the children spin around it transfers their energy into vertical or reciprocal motion, and that pumps water from an underground borehole or well to the surface where it's stored in a tank for future use."

With the children pushing the roundabout around 16 times a minute, the play-pump can produce 1,400 litres of water per hour from a depth of 40 metres.

Reaching the Next Billion (World Resources Institute)

Posted Sun, 04/24/2005 - 03:14 by Patrick@BRINQ

Well, it looks the folks at the World Resources Institute (WRI) have put together yet another great resource for the rest of us. WRI is behind a litany of world-changing best hits, including Beyond Grey Pinstripes, which tracks business schools on the leading edge of sustainability, the Digital Dividends progam, identifying and promoting solutions to the global digital divide, the New Ventures program, investment for sustainably oriented start-ups in the developing world, and the fantastic Eradicating Poverty through Profit conference, first held last December in San Francisco.

NextBillion.net, WRI's latest resource, was born of the fabulous community that came together for the Eradicating Poverty conference: close to a thousand aspiring and accomplished world changers, entrepreneurs and representatives of multinationals, NGOs, universities, governments, and local businesses from throughout the developed and developing world.

Rather than explain much more, I'll just let WRI do it themselves.

User Centered Innovation - More on Innovation in Utility

Posted Mon, 04/18/2005 - 03:51 by Patrick@BRINQ

For those that have followed our work here at BRINQ, our efforts with the toy industry, and our focus on discovering "Innovation in Utility", the Boston Globe has an article which has gotten us really EXCITED!!! It even starts with an example from the toy industry!

Here's a quick quote, you can find a link to the rest of the article below:

Ultimately, user-centered innovation may transform not only companies' product development processes but also business models, turning them into the providers of innovation toolkits to users and the marketers of their innovations, [MIT's] von Hippel suggests.

Innovation toolkits!! We definitely need to talk to this guy!

Capturing the Unexpected Innovation - MTN villagePhone (Uganda)

Posted Wed, 04/13/2005 - 04:40 by Patrick@BRINQ

Where should you look for the unexpected? Try finding a different world view.

"the unexpected success is not just an opportunity for innovation; it demands innovation. It forces us to ask, What basic changes are now appropriate for this organization in the way that it defines its business? Its technology? Its markets? If these questions are faced up to, then unexpected success is likely to open up the most rewarding and least risky of all innovative opportunities."

- Peter Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

At BRINQ, we believe those living in the Base of the Pyramid (BOP), the so-called poor, are a huge source for something unexpected: innovation. And particularly a type which we like to call "innovation in utility", the novel and unexpected ways in which people use technology. It's simple really, when does your invention become a true innovation?

Somebody uses it.

Lots of somebodies, and often in a way you didn't expect.

Tribal Lingo - Defining Sustainability

Posted Thu, 04/07/2005 - 21:13 by Patrick@BRINQ

“Ever had one of those conversations,” Stu Hart asked the crowd, “where you think you and another person are talking about the same thing, only to discover you’ve been discussing something completely different?  In my work, I run into that all the time.”

Stuart Hart is a professor at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management, recent author of the acclaimed “Capitalism at the Crossroads”, and one of the world’s foremost experts on the strategies and business opportunities for sustainable enterprises and serving the world’s poor.  Hart was co-presenting with colleague Mark Milstein (of the World Resources Institute) at Cornell’s 3rd annual Sustainable Enterprise Symposium.  

Hart and Milstein explained that there are so many different “sustainability tribes”, each using their own vocabulary of buzzwords, that even basic communication proves difficult and unwieldy; strategic planning and collaboration are even harder.  How can we collaborate in creating a better future if we can’t even communicate? 

Old Friends, Powerbooks, Tar Heels, and Spring Rolls for Bridges

Posted Wed, 04/06/2005 - 16:14 by Patrick@BRINQ

It's been another busy travel time for BRINQ, as we get ready for the Base of Pyramid Protocol field test in Kenya, watch Carolina regain its college basketball throne, make the leap to Apple, and build a bridge in Viet Nam with hundreds of spring rolls.

Sheri Willoughby and I headed out to Cornell for the Sustainable Enterprise Symposium, hosted by the Center for Global Sustainable Enterprise and the local Net Impact club. We got to spend quality time with people whose work I respect the most, old friends Stu Hart (Cornell), Mark Milstein (World Resources Institute), Monica Touesnard (Cornell), Erik Simanis (UNC), and Valerie Cook-Smith (Citibank). New friends Claire Preisser (Aspen Institute) and Rubens Mazon (Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Brazil) also made the trip a wonderful one.