Innovation in times of innovation

Innovation in times of innovation

 What are we talking about when we talk about innovation for development?

 Talking about innovation is trendy these days. Innovation as a slogan is present in the current language of industries, governments, companies, institutions, international organizations, NGOs, universities, schools, think tanks, etc. A quick definition would refer to the use of technology in any field of knowledge, industry, or society. A slightly broader definition would say that it relates to the fourth industrial revolution and the confluence of digital, physical, and biological technologies, which burst onto a global scale into society by modifying it. From the way we relate to each other to the way, it is produced goods and services. Both are right.

But, is it the same when we talk about innovation for development? The answer is yes, but that is only part of the equation. Innovation in the development SDG agenda is not an action; it is a paradigm. A paradigm understood as a new way of thinking about development in the 21st century, from the search for efficient, multidimensional, and sustainable solutions to complex challenges in local contexts. Under this assumption, technology is undoubtedly the leading disruptive agent, but innovation, in a broad understanding, is a paradigm that allows us to visualize and implement new sustainable and adapted solutions that respond more effectively to the challenges faced by governments, public institutions, and societies.

Innovation as a paradigm is a space where methods, practices, tools, and approaches converge. In 2018, Nesta -a pioneer in public innovation worldwide- published the landscape of innovation approaches. On this, it is identified not only many tools and strategies but a large number of areas in which innovation might impact development beyond technology. These areas are innovation as a space for Intelligence, Innovation as a space for solutions, change as a technological space, and innovation as a space for talent.

Innovation as an intelligence space focuses mainly on understanding reality and social complexity. It is the academic approach that has tools such as critical design, evidence-based policies, data visualization, sensemaking, foresight analysis, randomized control trials, and thought systems, among others.

Innovation as a solutions space focuses on shaping reality through methods that help to test and develop solutions. It is the space for entrepreneurship, and among its approaches and tools are prototyping, alternative financing, impact investment, collective financing, hackers, innovation spaces, the minimum viable product (MVP), challenge prizes, among others.

Innovation as a technology space focuses on enabling action and includes the use of technologies that facilitate action and change. Therefore, it includes digital tools and methods related to the use of massive data such as cryptocurrencies, the internet of things, blockchain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, algorithmic governance, among others.

Innovation as a talent space focuses on empowering people and mobilizes competencies and develop skills to generate institutional change. Among its methodologies are talent management, innovative leadership, organizational design, leadership systems, among others.

Likewise, there are also convergence spaces in which an innovation space embraces multiple areas. To mention a few examples, on the solution and intelligence space converge approaches such as design thinking, human-centered design, thought systems, public innovation laboratories, and behavioral insights. On the technology and solutions area meet crypto coins, digital innovation laboratories, and intelligent cities, among others. On the talent and intelligence spaces converge open innovation, collective intelligence, the positive deviance.

This panorama allows an understanding that innovation for development also means broadening the knowledge of dimensions that compose it and, consequently, exploring the multiplicity of tools that facilitate the provision of solutions to think and make development in the 21st century.

Innovation and agenda 2030

The relationship between innovation and the agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is undoubted. Beyond establishing the guide to global objectives set up to 2030, it represents the change in the way development is conceived in the coming years. The agenda is not only set out 17 isolated goals but a group of interconnected actions/goals that seek to ensure that people and countries do not relapse back by facing interrelated development problems without understanding their multiple edges. It is also a call for reducing inequalities between and within countries, disabling economies, changing the way of production and consumption, as well as building more inclusive and peaceful societies. Therefore, it demands multidimensional, practical, and sustainable solutions adapted to each context. In other words, Agenda 2030 understands that complexity will be the new normal of development and, consequently, it must embrace complexity and prepare to respond to it efficiently if we want to achieve significant and sustainable impacts. It is where innovation comes in, not as an end in itself, but as a paradigm, a model for thinking and doing development in the 21st century;

In that scenario, the agenda is fundamentally a call to action. Not only for governments but also for international agencies, firms, investors, and private sectors, calling them to take steps that lead to more desirable scenarios. However, mobilizing these societies towards more sustainable futures leaving no one behind is a complex task that involves working on a large number of critical factors such as youth unemployment, technological disruption, the acceleration of urbanization, and immigration, as well as the conflict growing and extremism. They cannot be addressed as isolated problems, but rather as openly interconnected and complex.

Consequently, the 2030 agenda cannot be achieved through isolated, discrete, and incremental actions. It must be addressed in a different and disruptive way. Metaphorically speaking, business-as-usual –keep doing development as it was done in the XX century- could lead to producing more cars but also to generate many more bottlenecks. Focusing on solutions means asking how we can achieve these goals more quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively. Hence, it needs to change systems, modify them, generate new work approaches, and overcome the idea of the "magic bullets." In other words, creating a new "operating system" that embraces the complexity and supports the sustainable solutions demanded. In this context, a broad understanding of innovation will play a key role.

Finally, what this means is that we have an exciting chance to change our collective approach to work in development by introducing new tools, backed by evidence, to accelerate the testing and dissemination of solutions within and between countries. Understanding this shift and assuming innovation as a paradigm will help us to focus collective efforts more efficiently and achieve more sustainable results in the short and medium-term.