Applying an ecosystems approach to humanitarian innovation

Rush, Howard; Marshall, Nicholas; Bessant, John; Ramalingam, Ben

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120529

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Emergencies, like COVID‐19, pose unique challenges to ecosystem responsiveness by introducing a high degree of uncertainty, information asymmetry and very low response time available for individuals to come together, brainstorm and develop solutions (Budhwar and Cumming, 2020; Majchrzak, Jarvenpaa and Hollingshead, 2007; Verbeke, 2020). Thus, during emergencies, innovation ecosystems lack ‘both a formal process and within that underdeveloped or missing behavioural “routines” to enable innovation activity to take place’ (Rush, Marshall and Bessant, 2021, p. 12). Therefore, we explore the questions: What capabilities make an innovation ecosystem responsive during emergencies?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation Ecosystems: What Makes them Responsive during Emergencies?

Sahasranamam

Soundararajan

2021

British J of Management

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In this paper, we examine what makes an innovation ecosystem responsive during emergencies. We studied the innovation ecosystem within Kerala (India) during emergencies that led to two emergency-oriented innovations, namely KeralaRescue (developed for Kerala Floods 2018) and CoronaSafe (developed for COVID-19), drawing on insights from strategic agility and institutional theory literature. We identified the enactment of three meta-capabilities of agility by the innovation ecosystem, which made it responsive during the emergencies, namely, eco-centric strategic sensitivity, eco-centric resource fluidity and eco-centric collective commitment. Further, we found that cognitive, structural and symbolic institutional arrangements facilitated the enactment of these eco-centric strategic agility meta-capabilities within the innovation ecosystem during the emergency. Our paper advances theory on innovation ecosystems and strategic agility, and generates implications for innovators and policymakers, developing solutions for COVID-19 and other emergencies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation Ecosystems: What Makes them Responsive during Emergencies?

Sahasranamam

Soundararajan

2021

British J of Management

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“…Legitimacy based on physical proximity, cultural affinity, operational readiness or adaptiveness, sustained access to populations and longevity of operations is undermined at best, and discarded at worst. (Fast and Bennet 2020:17) True reform that would cede control and prioritise local autonomy, giving power to structures and actors currently at the margins of the formal system, has yet to materialise; the sector is vulnerable to the hyper-capitalistic tendencies of competitiveness and promotion of organisational drivers for greater resources and visibility-an institutional isomorphism that sees the sector behave like corporations, but meanwhile remain risk-averse and closed to innovation (Rush et al 2021;DuBois 2018).…”

Section: Revolutionary Development Respects the Primacy Of Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, the sector's power dynamics, culture, financing mechanisms and perverse incentive structures create compelling reasons to remain centralised and averse to innovation, learning and transformation (Rush et al 2021). Numerous development analysts have sounded the alarm in recent decades that the process of development work had turned specious and drifted from its intention.…”

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confidence: 99%

Revolutionary Development: Why Humanitarian and Development Aid Need Radical Shifts

Sonrexa¹

2021

thl

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A new vision for international development has been called for, and evidence indicates that the industry is experiencing broad fragmentation in terms of identified priorities, challenges, concerns and paths forward. It has most notably struggled to share power with local and national counterparts and truly embody the principles of participatory development. Meanwhile, the rate and intensity of existential crises threaten to overtake humanity’s ability to adapt. To replace deeply entrenched, unhelpful patterns (assumptions, behaviours and values) requires a new kind of thinking inspired and informed by transcendent learning processes that simultaneously lead to individual and collaborative action and transformation. This paper provides an argument which stresses the need for a seismic shift, from the still dominant underpinnings of modernism mindsets and patriarchal thought-forms towards a relational or participative consciousness that reflects feminist values and the deeply interconnected world that we live within.

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“…participants cooperate, compete and conf lict with one another depending on their current alignment of interests (Adner, 2017). People, processes and institutions within these systems are interdependent, so small changes can have unpredictable, cascading effects throug hout (Rush et al, 2021). Systems innovators do not attempt to ignore or avoid complexity by focusing on specific individuals.…”

Section: Simple Problem Ecosystem For Student Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has failed to transform the humanitarian sector and has met an 'impact plateau' (McClure, 2018). With a few exceptions, successful humanitarian innovation has worked within existing paradigms, along clear, wellestablished trajectories, seeking to "do what we do but better" (Rush et al, 2021), without seriously challenging existing structures and processes (Aleinikoff, 2014). Too many promising pilots have proved unable to scale, and little progress has been made towards addressing some of the important large-scale problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian innovation: The next step for greater impact

Wilde¹,

McClure²

2021

thl

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Since 2010, the aid sector has invested significant funds in innovation practice, implementing pilots and other practices borrowed from Silicon Valley. While this has supported some impact, the aid sector has now hit a plateau with innovation, struggling to scale what works, frustrated by ‘digital litter’ (unsustainable technology projects), trying to overcome the small innovation trap, and ‘pilotitis’ (fatigue from implementing small-scale projects that never scale up). Many innovation leaders in the social and development sectors are realising that the ‘lean’ innovation approaches commonly used do not work well for the complex challenges in their sector. To create the change and impact that our work demands, organisations must be able to work with real and messy challenges, and create large-scale innovative solutions. The sector is beginning to use system innovation to move past simplifying challenges in lean experiments and hackathons. This paper discusses how system innovation can support humanitarians to take the next step to innovation effectiveness, to create real impact in communities.

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Applying an ecosystems approach to humanitarian innovation

Cited by 11 publications

References 58 publications

Innovation Ecosystems: What Makes them Responsive during Emergencies?

Innovation Ecosystems: What Makes them Responsive during Emergencies?

Revolutionary Development: Why Humanitarian and Development Aid Need Radical Shifts

Humanitarian innovation: The next step for greater impact

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