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System Innovation for Sustainable Business Sally Uren – Forum for the Future

System Innovation for Sustainable Business"

Sally Uren"April 23rd 2014"

Forum for the Future"Introduction"

New York!Mumbai!

London!

Singapore!

Forum for the Future is a global non-profit that works with business, government and others to

solve complex sustainability challenges."

What we do"•  Leading company transformation"

•  17 years experience working with ambitious companies who want to develop strategies that combine sustainability and business success"

•  Innovation coalitions"•  Bringing together groups to solve bigger

sustainability challenges - including whole value chains – using a systems approach"

#theBIGshift"We’re on a mission to create a sustainable future by shifting the key systems upon which we rely""

Individual efforts will only take us so far "

Let’s lead the way in shaping the future"

""Join us today."

Create #theBIGshift in your system."

Today"

Objectives"

•  Understand how significant change happens"

•  Insights into how to diagnose, pioneer and scale "

•  How to be a better systems thinker"

A change model"Six steps to significant change"

"

health burden" Loss of Biodiversity

climate change"

Water Scarcity

water scarcity" poverty"

conflict & instability"

gender inequality"

Transparency loss of biodiversity"

Human Rights

human rights"

resource scarcity"

6 stepsto significant change"

12

signals that a systemic problem exists"someone decides to do something about it"1!

13

root causes, different perspectives "where to intervene"creates a cohesive group"

2!

14

working examples that demonstrate change"people, organisations, products / services / business models, relationships, & more"

3!

15

pioneering practice taken up by mainstream tools and frameworks; supporting leaders; promoting iconic stories"often waves of diffusion: leaders to fast followers; fast followers to mass adopters"

4!

16

maintain momentum through mass communication, mass education, removal of policy barriers… 5!

17

new practice is institutionalised through formal regulation"new cultural norms or values"pulls up the laggards"

6!

6 stepsto significant change"

system innovation!

System innovation and scale: past examples"

It requires (at least) four shifts"

short term, incremental, technical solutions"

systemic pioneering interventions"

trying to solve it alone" partnership and collaboration"

philanthropy, advocacy, campaigns"

building new, enabling structures for market

transformation"

single, solely material issues"

system-wide understanding"

And, reframing collaboration/competition"

competitive!(compete)!

pre-competitive!(collaborate)!

Sustainable Shipping Initiative"

Growing awareness in industry.""5 SSI founding members 2010: BP Shipping, Lloyd’s Register, Maersk, ABN-Amro, Gearbulk"

Case for Action, 2040 Vision"

Collaborative innovation platforms eg financing mechanisms to enable uptake of new tech/ kit""+ individual leadership towards Vision"

Wider engagement"

2040 target impact:"eg 90% reduction in CO2 by 2040 via majority of ~200k ships"

Scaling up successful innovations + 2013 launch SSI body"18 significant industry players + Forum + WWF = global"

M-Pesa and mobile banking"

Clear need for better loan rates for Kenyans with low or no access to financial services"

High lending fees in existing set-up, limited infrastructure/ bank access. Airtime already used as proxy for ££ transfer"

2005 DFID/ Vodafone/ Safaricom - strong pilot, highly user-friendly product""2007 launch by Safaricom Kenya""

Extended use, eg savings, bill and salary payments. Rollout to other countries"

Strategic partnership with Western Union = global remittances""

2011: 17m Kenyan accounts = 2/3 adult population; 25% of GNP""Tanzania 2013: 5 m accounts"South Africa: slower take-up"Afghanistan + India"

Enablers in Kenya: Learning from strong pilot project; Safaricom trusted brand + strong market share; favourable regulatory context; planned rapid roll-out to agents; strong existing use of mobiles."

Barriers to scale beyond Kenya: different regulations; adverse responses from banks; lack of education/ product understanding"

web.worldbank.org "www.economist.com"www.microfinancegateway.org "

Can you place your journey on here?"

Diagnose, pioneer, scale"

6 stepsto significant change"

diagnose"

pioneer"

scale"

Diagnose"

Pioneer"

Pioneer"Breakthrough innovation: management structures "

Scale"

Scale"Types of scale"

grow"

replicate"

diffuse and influence"

Inspire and enable influencers"

Communication and behaviour

change"

Barrier removal & institution building"

New financial models,

measures and standards"

Networks and collaborations"

Incubating & growing

entrepreneurs"

Six steps"To becoming a better systems thinker"

1. See the whole, not just the parts!

What’s the most useful boundary?"

What’s the most useful boundary?"

2. Identify connections between different parts of the system!

How can we better understand "and capture how different parts of systems interrelate?"

3. Engage different perspectives!

How can we engage different perspectives more deeply and widely?"

•  Consciously identify what perspectives are useful"•  Deeper engagement and exploration of people/behaviour"•  Wide field research"•  Data"

4. Recognise that all models are wrong, but some are useful!

How can we be more aware of the assumptions in our maps and models?"

5. Consider different time scales!

How can we overcome our ‘blind spots’ when it comes to long-term thinking?"

6. Make effective interventions by understanding patterns in the system!

How can we become more ‘literate’ "in understanding patterns that block change in systems?"

How can you be a better systems thinker in 2014?"What three things will you do differently?"

Thinking systematically"

Thank you!"

www.forumforthefuture.org"Company No. 2959712 "Charity No. 1040519 ""

www.forumforthefuture.org"Company No. 2959712 "Charity No. 1040519 ""

Dr Sally Uren"CEO"

E: s.uren@forumforthefuture.org"S: forumsallyuren"T: @sallyuren"

www.SustainableBrands.com

Thank You View the recording of this webinar in the SB Library