A MANAGED APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT INNOVATIONS
Development Innovation is risky and expensive. By leveraging a Managed Approach to Development Innovations (MADI), organizations can greatly improve the catalytic effects and impact of every dollar spent on development innovation.
Development innovation today
is time & resource intensive
The current approach to Development Innovation is highly time and resource intensive due to its probabilistic nature. To achieve additionality and the catalytic effects of their support, Foundations and funds allocate resources to early stage, high-risk models in specific domains. The early-stage nature of these models often means that the solutions are focused on specific problems within parts of the value chain, and often fail to design across the value chain.
Over time, many models will fail, and only a few will converge onto a Standard Model - a proven, replicable, sustainable, and scalable model. Microfinance, Community Health Workers, Agricultural extension agent models, are some examples of standard models that have emerged in specific domains. But in the absence of an orchestrated approach across the value chain, the emergence of these standard models is heavily based on chance, and suffers from 3 interdependent weaknesses.
High risk of failure
Organisations are simultaneously responsible for innovation AND execution.
Early Over-optimisation of Siloed solutions
An over-reliance on bottom-up innovation often results in solutions that will struggle or fail to be sufficiently generalizable and scalable.
Lack of knowledge consolidation
Learnings generated are often isolated and overly context-specific, failing to inform an end-to-end solution design across the value chain.
A Managed Approach to Development Innovations
can fast-track the development of standard models, leading to
INCREASED ADDITIONALITY
by bringing in innovation management expertise to support the development of standard models across the domain portfolio.
IMPROVED CATALYTIC EFFECTS
by accelerating the development of a scalable standard model with multiple early-adopters in a portfolio through a risk-managed approach
AMPLIFIED IMPACT
by promoting evidence-based, actionable insights and field-tested best practices,
through open knowledge systems
Development Funders are uniquely positioned to drive systemic change. Our proposed model enables foundations to play a more active role in driving ecosystem-level change and maximising the impact of innovation funding across entire domains.
By designing across the value chain and running simultaneous micro-experiments across the portfolio, we can accelerate the development of a standard model. Our tried and tested processes manage risk, maximize learning, and accelerate development.
The MADI Theory
of Change
This approach improves
the additionality, catalytic effects, and impact of every dollar spent on innovation activities
BENEFITS FOR FOUNDATIONS
& FUNDERS
Reduced risk of innovation funding
Greater SROI on innovation grants
Improved SROI on overall funding
Greater systemic impact
BENEFITS ACROSS THE
ECOSYSTEM
Knowledge within and beyond portfolio
Easily adaptable across markets
Field-tested and ready solutions
Standard playbooks and metrics
Get in touch.
To learn more about our initiatives, explore potential collaborations, or discuss specific details, please feel free to reach out to us.
